Michael Kass
on Ethical Storytelling
“When all else fails, it’s always ok to scream.”
Michael Kass is a sensitive, yet brutally honest soul who dares us to attune to the story seeking to be revealed rather than the one that is consuming itself.
No wonder he considers sustainability “a collective delusion”, a story we live on repeat without even questioning its relevance. He prefers to guide us towards thriving and to discover what possibilities reveal themselves if we de-centre humans from the equation and centre ‘all Life’: “What does it look like for humans to step back into the interconnected web of existence and become allied with Life?” Only a storyteller could see Life as an ally.
Michael is the founder of Story & Spirit, an international facilitator, consultant, and healer who works with organizations and individuals through Transformational & Ethical Storytelling or Resilience and Well-being experiences. He helps us weave a new story that brings us into a greater connection with ourselves, each other, and the wider world. His focus is clear: stepping into a more aligned, vibrant, and vital future.
In Michael’s eyes, regenerative leaders should be heroes owning their own stories who have “an imagination fueled by hope and tempered by current realities, deep listening to the human and more-than-human world, energetic literacy, presence and a connection with ‘We’ consciousness that incorporates the more-than-human world.”
Humans are wired for storytelling. It is how we connect, relate, love, feel, live. Storytelling is a source of power for mission-driven companies and leaders. But it is more than just a strategy: “it is a window to someone’s real-life experience – and with that comes a responsibility to approach storytelling in a respectful and ethical way.”
How wonderful is Michael’s piece of advice to honor the storytellers within the organizations at every level? Embracing ethical storytelling means “embracing a deeply inclusive way of being within your organization that honors not just the words and the stories, but the soul of your storytellers, the people you’re speaking to, and of a kind of spirit of change that wants to be born.”
Using stories means valuing humanity: “The more we respect their story, the more we’re honoring the value that they bring, simply by virtue of being who they are. That’s the big shift.”
Own your story. Write it. Live it.
Thank you, Michael, for being an Ethical Storyteller!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Michael Kass
Company / Institution: Story & Spirit
Title: Founder
Website: www.storyandspirit.org
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkass1/
Country of origin: United States
Country you currently live in: United States
Your personal definition of Sustainability:
I tend not to think in terms of sustainability! For me, ‘sustainability’ carries the implication that the way we, primarily in the Global North / Western culture, have been living is sustainable at any level. That through the clever use of technology, there is some way that we can continue living as we have been living AND benefit or heal our environment. Over the past few years, it’s become increasingly clear to me that this is somewhat delusional.
So, if I were to answer the question, I might define define ‘Sustainability’ as a collective delusion oriented towards preserving our current way of life through the deployment of technology that shifts negative environmental impacts from one area to another.
Instead of ‘sustainability,’ I prefer to orient towards ‘thriving’ across the entire ecosystem. What new possibilities reveal themselves if we de-center humans from the equation and center ‘all life?’ What does it look like for humans to step back into the interconnected web of existence and become allied with Life?
It will probably look like more than recycling and transitioning to solar energy (itself dependent on minerals derived through industrial extraction)!
Main business challenge you face:
Holding the beliefs expressed above while working in systems that hold a diametrically opposed viewpoint.
An example: last week, I was facilitating a storytelling workshop for a group of CEOs. I had just re-introduced ‘story’ as a way of centering relationship and deep listening in communication when one of the participants asked, very directly, how this would help them drive profit. It ended up opening a powerful conversation about the stories we exist inside of (e.g. ‘driving’ towards relentless growth being a given-good in business) and how introducing a ‘second bottom line’ that gauges humanity or social/environmental impact can result in more resilient, adaptable organizations that, over time, can orient towards systemic thriving. All that being said, they would have never brought me in for the workshop if they’d known that’s where the conversation would go!
Main driver that keeps you going: Hope. Stories. And the amazing beings, human and more-than-human, that I’ve had the privilege of working with.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: A deep compassion and capacity for wonder and awe at the incredible, sometimes hidden, beauty of Life.
The trait you most value in others: The ability to be Present with what is in each moment.
Passions & little things that bring you joy:
Reading poetry out loud.
Coming into relationship with a new place in nature.
A really good piece of chocolate.
The #inspirators who determined you to take the sustainability path:
Deena Metzger (has been an incredible teacher and elder over the past few years)
Jack D. Forbes
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Tyson Yunkaporta
A hint or starting point for companies or professionals that are taking the first steps in the sustainability journey:
In answering this, I’m reminded of how Bayo Akomalafe begins many of his talks with the Nigerian saying ‘The times are urgent, we must slow down.’ Looking at all the available data, the tendency, particularly in the corporate world, is to either willfully ignore it or leap into action. To go from business-as-usual, to doing something about sustainability.
The hint may be to slow down, to move at the pace of trust, and do the inner-work necessary to fully understand how our individual and collective actions & beliefs have, largely unintentionally, brought us into complicity with extinction. The actions that emerge from the disinvestment and disentangling from our unsustainable ways of being will be more impactful, resonant, and creative than our first knee-jerk instincts.
Most used and abused clichés in sustainability that bother you:
I see it less and less, but the idea that any single action moves us towards systemic thriving. Recycling, going solar, driving electric cars are all actions that make us feel effective without addressing the root causes of ecosystem-wide imbalances.
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope:
Look for the emergent sprouts of regenerative creativity and movement amidst what is, without doubt, an incredibly vast field of challenge and dissolution. Attune, as much as you can (and in community whenever possible) to the story seeking to be revealed rather than the one that is consuming itself. Make art with others! And when all else fails, it’s always ok to scream.
Books that had a major impact on you:
Columbus and Other Cannibals by Jack D. Forbes
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers (part of a growing genre of optimistic SciFi that imagines a beautiful, gentle future)
Native Science by Gregory Cajete
Sandtalk by Tyson Yunkaporta
Must-reads for any Sustainability professional:
Top of mind right now is Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It by Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Max Wilbert.
Movies / Documentaries you would watch all over again:
‘An Inconvenient Truth’ still feels relevant.
I just watched ‘All That Breathes’ and plan to watch it again soon.
And I will watch ‘Babe’ and ‘Babe: Pig In the City’ over and over again forever.
Blogs / Websites / Podcasts etc. you visit frequently:
I’m not really a blog, website, podcast person… that said, I’ll sometimes listen to ‘Embodiment Matters,’ a wonderful podcast that explores the intersection of sustainability and embodiment practices.
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing:
I have wide and varied musical tastes. At the moment, the soundtrack to ‘HadesTown’ is on repeat along with some New Orleans Jazz.
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you:
Peru.
Death Valley in California.
The mountains and forests of New Mexico (where I currently reside)
The Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico
A cliff in Southern Utah with ancient petroglyphs that never fails to transport me outside of time and space.
Global Sustainability Voices you recommend us to follow:
There are so many voices out there! Find the ones that resonate most for you!
Trends in Sustainability we should keep an eye on:
I’m very interested in the shift from ‘sustainability’ to ‘regenerative’ practices. More and more leaders and nascent communities seem to exploring what it means, and looks like, to give back to the ecosystems and communities that have been most harmed by our way of life.
I’m also interested in, and inspired by, the interweaving of creativity practice with regenerative movements.
Best places for business networking (online or offline):
I love the Opportunity Collaboration community and the House of Beautiful Business.
Events we should attend: I tend to go where I’m invited, so might be the worst person in the world to answer this question! That said, I attended the ‘Wellbeing Summit for Social Impact’ last year and loved it.
Associations, business clubs, tribes you belong to – and why: I’m a member of the Opportunity Collaboration delegate community because it’s a wonderful group of like-minded leaders, philanthropists, and change makers from all over the world.
Sustainable Development courses / trainings / certifications that really teach us how to have an impact: I’ve taken a roundabout way to this field (and I still consider myself ‘sustainability-adjacent), so nothing to add here!
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030:
Growing awareness of climate dissolution.
Every time I work with younger people (those in their teens or even younger), I’m absolutely blown away by their sensitivity, level of awareness, and the vision they hold for the future.
The rapidity with which narratives around sustainability are evolving (which is, admittedly, a double-edged sword).
The emergence of hopeful sci-fi and fantasy stories that are fueling the imaginations of tomorrow’s leaders.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future in 2030:
Current climate models are already being outpaced by unfolding events.
Increased international (and internecine) tensions, political, social, and economic.
The enduring power of inertia and entrenched power structures when it comes to shifting economic and business models.
Activism that tends to fragment along cause-lines, causing movements to shatter while the established hierarchies, with a single-minded purpose of self-preservation, carry on.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today:
Deep listening to the human and more-than-human world.
An imagination fueled by hope and tempered by current realities.
Energetic Literacy - the ability to tune in to the frequency of the elements and accept guidance from those places.
Presence.
A connection with ‘We’ consciousness that incorporates the more-than-human world.
Quote that inspires you:
“Stories are entities that visit and move things in the world, in nonlinear time: they are stories that world the world.”
(Vanessa Machado de Oliveira in Hospicing Modernity)
Your own quote that will inspire us:
