PNI Theory

• 2026-07-28

  An idea swimming by

  A post about an idea that came swimming by, and about my response to it. It has to do with how we are with each other. Read more

• 2026-07-14

  Cringe and joy, part four – inclusion

  This post explores the joy of helping groups of people feel included, respected, and represented in a group, community, organization, or society. Read more

• 2026-06-23

  Cringe and joy, part three – scaling up

  This post is about the moment of cringe in which people say that PNI “does not scale.” In it I ponder how PNI both does and does not scale. Read more

• 2026-05-26

  Cringe and joy, part two – being heard

  This post is about the joy (that I have experienced in my work) of helping people feel heard. I speculate on why people feel such a need to be heard and what it means that I want to help them do that. Read more

• 2026-05-12

  Cringe and joy, part one – anecdotal evidence

  In this post I explore my misgivings about the phrase “it’s just anecdotal evidence” by exploring two problematical aspects of each word with respect to PNI. Read more

• 2026-04-28

  Cringe and joy, part zero

  This post is the first (well, the zeroth) in a new series of 32 blog posts recalling moments of cringe (when my work didn’t work as well as I hoped it would) and joy (when my work worked as well as I hoped it would, or better). Read more

• 2024-02-23

  New paper, new network name

  Hey everybody. I wanted to tell you about a new paper on Participatory Narrative Inquiry that has just come out. Written mostly by my colleague Rachel Colla (though I helped a little), the paper makes a strong case for the use of PNI in Wellbeing Research. I was so impressed by how Rachel pulled together… Read more

• 2018-12-28

  A little bit of history repeating

  This blog post has been moved to (and revised for) The Working with Stories Miscellany. You can find it in Chapter 19. Read more

• 2016-05-24

  Where is the participation in PNI?

  Here’s a thought. I saw a reference to participatory narrative inquiry recently that said it’s participatory because during the return phase of a PNI project, stories return to the community. I thought: that’s true, but the return phase isn’t the only place a PNI project can be participatory. There is a place for participation in… Read more

• 2014-09-23

  From the archives

  I have some top secret projects going on right now, but I have nothing ready to show you just yet (mwahahaha). However, the other day I was poking around in some old files (can’t remember why), and I thought, gee, I wonder if some of my blog readers might like to see this old musty… Read more

• 2010-12-10

  The healing cleaver

  Yesterday I posted about the issue of context in story listening, and how I try to preserve context and worry that I fail. Today I listened to two doctors tell stories about how listening to their patients tell their stories helps them work together to find solutions to problems. (This was on a teleconference from… Read more

• 2010-12-09

  Severed stories and those who sever them

  One of my favorite moments in my work is when I’m sitting with a body of stories and their accompanying interpretations. This is a position I have been in many times now and have come to love, over and above writing or programming or almost anything else I do. Sitting with the stories, abiding with… Read more

• 2010-10-22

  Depth and breadth in organizational narrative

  Last night I finished reading The Pillars of the Earth, a historical novel by Ken Follett about the middle ages. I wanted to read the novel because I enjoyed the miniseries, which I fell into watching on Netflix purely by chance (all right! it was because I saw Matthew MacFadyen and Rufus Sewell in it).… Read more

• 2010-10-08

  WEIRD research on WEIRD people

  To start, you might want to look at the interesting article by James Surowiecki in this week’s New Yorker on procrastination. Which brings me to my resolution: I am going to try to finish the rewrite of Working with Stories this month. My favorite part from Surowiecki’s article is this part: Instead [of fighting with… Read more

• 2010-03-17

  Why narrative inquiry?

  The other day somebody asked me for the “top ten” reasons narrative inquiry is preferable to direct questioning. It was an interesting challenge, and this is the result. I’ve grouped the ten reasons into three groups. Human-social aspects of narrative inquiry Social function. People act differently and expect different things when they tell and listen… Read more

• 2010-03-12

  Gems: Studying Those Who Study Us

  Here I begin another series of blog posts, this time on resources I’ve found (mainly books) that have been so useful to my understanding of organizational and community narrative as to call them “gems.” As usual it’s far too long, and again I beg your tolerance. Cases and stories When people start exploring what has… Read more