TWO
Envisioning the Future
Using Science Fiction and Strategic Narratives to Create a Compelling Story
In 1981, Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer literally turned back time using a story. One autumn day, she welcomed eight men in their seventies to a retreat center in New Hampshire. Several of the men struggled getting off the bus with their suitcases and canes, and some men were stooped with arthritis. As the first man stepped inside, something strange happened. He paused, shocked and puzzled. Inside, the black-and-white television blared out news about Wilt Chamberlain’s recent 1959 visit to Moscow with the Harlem Globetrotters. The bulletin board at the retreat center displayed the retreat participant’s picture from twenty-two years ...
