Actor, writer, leadership consultant, and author Pam Sherman joins 100 Stories for a conversation about identity, leadership, authenticity, personal narrative, and what she calls the “believability gap” — the distance between who we think we are, how we believe we’re showing up, and how other people actually experience us.

Pam spent years moving between law, acting, writing, and leadership work. Her own story raises a question that sits at the center of Narrative Intelligence: what happens when the identity you have been living no longer fits?

We talk about the stories we inherit about success, work, and who we are supposed to become; what it takes to behave differently when an old story is still present; and why insight alone rarely creates change.

Pam also challenges one of our culture’s favorite ideas: authenticity.

Knowing yourself matters. So does listening, empathy, relationship, and paying attention to the impact you have on other people.

That tension led us into a bigger question for the Narrative Intelligence Project: Is emotional intelligence part of the foundation for Narrative Intelligence? And what happens when someone understands their story but still struggles to act differently?

The question I’m leaving with:

How different is the person you believe yourself to be from the person other people actually experience?

More about Pam Sherman: https://www.thepamsherman.com/my-story

More about Paige Williams: https://paigewilliams.co/

StoryKeys: https://storykeys.co/

The 100 Stories Project: https://100storiesproject.com/