Isla Johnston as young Beth learns chess from Bill Camp’s Mr. Shaibel in The Queen’s Gambit

The power of narrative

Greg Salmela
1 min readDec 30, 2020

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I just finished binge-watching The Queen’s Gambit, and I’m reminded again of the power of good story-telling.

What amazes me about stories is how they deliver an extraordinary amount of rich and nuanced information — which is spontaneously decoded through our own experiences and cultural references.

On a physiological level, studies have documented how engagement with stories activates the regions of the brain responsible for complex information processing. And I can attest to that.

While watching the story’s protagonist, Beth Harmon, navigate life as a nine-year-old boarding school student, my attention was enriched by two layers of context — my own memories and experiences as a student of that age; and my current life experience. All this neural activity was prompted quite naturally as I watched the story unfold from my living room sofa.

When it comes to understanding the power of narrative, there’s a lot to unpack. But in simple terms, narrative is information wrapped in cultural context. And since we are cultural beings, this makes story-telling very potent.

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I founded Aegis, a relational design firm. Aegis helps create emotionally-intelligent brands and organisations.

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Greg Salmela
Greg Salmela

Written by Greg Salmela

Hanging with human-centred thinkers, researchers and designers.

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