The power of the Narrative Identity framework for advancing leadership
How do you show up as a leader? How have your past experiences shaped you? What are the ‘stories’ that underpin your behaviour and leadership style? ‘Narrative Identity’ is a framework to help understand how we form our identity by integrating life experiences into an internalised, evolving story, or narrative, of ‘Self’ that creates our sense of purpose and unity in life and work. The framework helps to reflect, understand and ‘re-write’ how we show up as leaders to instigate the highest leadership potential for individuals and organisations.
Keynote speaker Steve Athey, Founding Senior Partner at Leadership Circle, will share the latest developments in his world-renowned work on Narrative Identity with top global leaders. We will also announce the winners of the inaugural Leadership Awards Australia & New Zealand.
Wednesday, 6 September 2023 via Livestream & In-Person in Sydney
Sydney Masonic Centre, 66 Goulburn St, Sydney NSW 2000
Workshop 10am - 1pm AEST
Keynote 2.30pm - 4.15pm AEST
Leaders Networking Drinks and Canapés 4.15pm - 5.15pm AEST
Can't make it to Sydney? Watch the Keynote via livestream with our virtual pass.
The keynote recording is included in your virtual and in-person registration and will be shared with everyone who has registered.
A deep-dive into the Narrative Identity framework
An experiential workshop empowering personal growth and leadership development
Workshop: 10am – 1pm AEST (Includes 15 minute Tea break)
This workshop for Leadership Circle Practitioners, led by Steve Athey, Founding Partner of Leadership Circle, is an experiential deep-dive into the latest expansion of the Narrative Identity framework. Attendees will have the opportunity to practice some of their own narrative identity work to gain a deeper understanding of it and its practical applications in client work. Activities will include:
- Telling a story of self and then reflecting on and dissecting it - why it was constructed in that way
- Experimenting with authorship by telling a different story of self
- Integrating masculine and feminine energy
- Coaching through these frames
- Seeing through another lens on self and identity
- Exploring the latest well-being and neurobiological component of the framework
- Testing out the framework on one another to practice using it with clients
As many of you know, Steve has been a consultant working with some of the world’s senior leaders for many years and has seen first-hand the importance and the impact of this work as he’s continued to expand and utilise it.
Pre-workshop background work
If you’d like to refresh or build your knowledge of the Narrative Identity framework, please watch these videos of past explanations of the topic:
Video: Masterclass: Steve Athey - Narrative Identity and the Constricted Imagination 2018
This Masterclass explores Narrative Identity and the Constricted Imagination — A Developmental Approach to the Midlife Challenges of Selfhood and Leadership. This was part of THE SUMMIT – the Leadership Circle 2018 Asia Pacific Conference held in Australia.
Video: Keynote: Steve Athey - Foundations of Tyranny: The dominant narrative identity 2019
One of the most challenging complexities leaders face is the complexity of the self. Following Steve’s highly regarded keynote at the 2018 conference, he returned to Australia to a further exploration of Narrative Identity and the Constricted Imagination, tackling another aspect of self-making through narrative, how our dominant identity story can become tyrannical in midlife—crushing diversity, limiting experimentation, and propagating an increasingly sterile monoculture of selfhood. These plateaus are primary obstacles to adaptive leadership.
A pre-requisite to attend this workshop is that you are a Leadership Circle Certified Practitioner and have completed your Leadership Circle Profile Certification.
"We need to listen carefully to the internal narrative "stories we tell ourselves" on repeat in our own heads, and we need to analyze whether the dominant story which served us until now (…) is helpful for our future - the leader I am becoming. This is the essence of narrative identity, a concept I have been introduced to by Steve Athey."
- Eva McLellan, Global Healthcare Executive and Co-Founder, Unlocking Eve
Keynote: Unlocking leadership potential with the Narrative Identity Framework
Your imagined future is yours to create.
This keynote and Q&A session will explore the Narrative Identity framework as a pathway to excelling in leadership development and personal growth. The session will be followed by networking drinks and canapes for all attendees.
Presented by Steve Athey, Founding Senior Partner at Leadership Circle, whose work is at the forefront of advanced leadership development theory.
This will be the 3rd in the series of popular Narrative Identity keynotes. Watch past keynotes here.
Meet other leaders, share your story and discuss what you’ve learned after the keynote over networking drinks and canapes.
What is Narrative Identity, and why is understanding it so important for leadership?
Your identity is the foundation of how you show up as a leader. “You can’t separate leadership from ‘self-hood’” as Steve explains it. ‘Narrative Identity’ is how we form our identity by integrating life experiences into an internalised, evolving story of ‘Self’ that creates our sense of purpose and unity in life and work. Understanding and working through the Narrative Identity framework is a powerful exercise to catalyse advanced professional leadership development. Just as the Leadership Circle Profile helps to uncover underlying habits and assumptions for transformational change, the Narrative Identity framework helps to reflect, understand and ‘re-write’ how we show up as leaders.
How does your leadership show up in the world?
How is moving into ‘self-authorship’ helpful - to be aware of, change or evolve your story? What are its limitations? Are you trapped in a certain story about yourself? What are some tools to help open up more narrative freedom? Explore how the three core elements of Narrative Identity - ‘State Story and Stage’ interact together, how you can unpack and rework them to your advantage as a leader or coach, and help others do the same.
Who should attend?
Senior leaders or coaches who want to enhance the leadership capability and performance of themselves and their teams. This keynote is particularly beneficial for:
- Senior Leaders with a team
- Human Resources, Training and Development Leaders
- Professional Coaches
- Management Consultants
- This work is particularly beneficial for leaders working on change management and culture-shift projects.
Are there any prerequisites for attending?
Other than an open mind, there are no essential prerequisites. A Leadership Circle Profile is not a requirement. However, to get the best out of this session, we recommend you are a leader and have already undertaken some form of professional leadership development study, reading, or training; or are working with leaders to enhance their leadership capability.
While an initial understanding of the underlying principles of the Narrative Identity framework and the Leadership Circle Profile will help you to get the best out of this keynote, it is not essential, as the concept will be introduced and explained. Some suggested background reading is below.
Suggested background preparation
- Watch Narrative Identity Keynote from Leadership Circle APAC Summit 2018
- Read about the Leadership Circle Profile
If you’re a Leadership Circle Practitioner, please join the morning Narrative Identity Workshop and the keynote, to deepen your knowledge of the framework and how to use it with other leaders and clients.
Steve Athey, Founding Senior Partner, Leadership Circle
Steve is a Senior Partner and one of the founders of Leadership Circle, a global consultancy dedicated to evolving the conscious practice of leadership. In addition to many long-term relationships as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and their teams, he has served as the Dean of Global Faculty for Leadership Circle and currently works at the innovative edges of the practice, extending and integrating the firm’s approach to the depths of leadership work.
Steve combines a profound curiosity about life with an unshakeable belief in the inherent potential of people. With an integrated approach to long term development, he specialises
in helping executives and their teams reach their fuller potentials. A master coach, Steve is committed to helping his clients grow in consciousness and capability, maximising not only their contribution but their personal experience of leadership.
His innovative approach to the deeper aspects of leadership team development has been instrumental in helping executive teams make profound and sustainable shifts in both their consciousness and their performance. He has done pioneering work in high performance team building, culture-shifting simulations, and pragmatic approaches to adult stage development. His latest work focuses on the later stage challenges of self-authorship
and integrates narrative approaches to identity, leadership, and well-being.
