VIDEO: Book Talk: Dr. Ajit Maan, Narrative Warfare and Lt. Col. Scott Mann, Nobody Is Coming to Save You

Kristina Tanasichuk sits down with Dr. Ajit Maan, author of Narrative Warfare and Lt. Col. Scott Mann, Ret. author of Nobody Is Coming to Save You.

For years, Scott Mann worked in low-trust, high stakes environments where nobody was coming to save him, his men, or the exhausted majority of Afghans they served. There, he learned that the best way to get big sh*t done and bridge vast divisions is to meet people where they are, not where you want them to be. He calls this approach Rooftop Leadership. Wherever you live, work, or play—in real estate, in corporate sales, in HR, for a community volunteer group, in a non-profit, in politics—the hardest thing to find these days is authentic connection with other people. The social trends and fraying of civil society after more than two years of prolonged isolation from Covid, mass technology, organizational strain, and blinking-red stress levels on our emotional dashboards have taken a toll that those of us in our own exhausted majority are only beginning to understand and appreciate.

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Contemporary wars are largely wars of influence and they will not necessarily be won by those with the most information or the most accurate data. They will be won by those effectively tell the meaning of the information and what difference it makes for the audience.

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Overview of this informative Book Talk:

This video featuring Dr. Ajit Maan and Lt. Col. Scott Mann offers an informative exploration of narrative competence. They reveal critical insights into how storytelling shapes societal understanding and institutional effectiveness. At its core, this discussion centers on the concept of narrative warfare – a sophisticated approach to cultural and strategic communication that goes beyond traditional conflict methodologies. Narrative warfare is not a battle of ideologies, nor is it information warfare. Narrative Warfare is warfare over the meaning of information. It is about controlling the meaning of information and who gets to define that meaning. The speakers argue that adversaries increasingly recognize the power of narrative strategies and use them to erode cultural identity, legitimacy, and societal cohesion without resorting to kinetic conflict.

Dr. Maan and Lt. Col Mann articulate a fundamental concern about the erosion of narrative competence across various institutional landscapes, particularly within government and security sectors. Lt. Col. Mann, a retired Green Beret, and Dr. Ajit Maan, a renowned security analyst, CEO of Narrative Strategies, and Professor of Practice at Arizona State University, converge on a critical observation: modern societies have systematically devalued the power of storytelling, undermining our ability to create meaningful connections and understand complex social dynamics.

Narrative competence is the strategic application of purposeful storytelling to achieve personal and collective objectives. This discussion highlights a significant deficit in how institutions communicate, emphasizing that most leaders rely on bullet points and PowerPoint presentations that engage only working memory, rather than creating lasting, emotionally resonant narratives that connect with long-term memory. The speakers dive into the neurological underpinnings of storytelling, drawing on Dr. Ivan Terrell’s research that positions the human brain as a pattern-matching organ fundamentally designed to make sense of the world through narrative frameworks. This cognitive approach emphasizes the importance of storytelling as a core mechanism of human understanding, not as a peripheral and superficial communication tool.

This talk emphasizes three key narrative strategies for leaders. First, leaders must recognize that personal experiences carry universal significance. Second, they must develop a compelling personal backstory that reveals character and resilience. Third, they must master the art of asking open-ended questions that invite narrative responses. These strategies are particularly crucial in low-trust environments where traditional communication methods fail.

Practical applications of narrative competence are illustrated through compelling examples, including the Green Berets’ approach to working with indigenous cultures and the successful Operation Just Cause in Panama, where special forces used communication and understanding to facilitate surrender without violence. This discussion also critically addresses the challenges of modern communication, particularly in the context of social media and disaster response. The speakers highlight how rapid misinformation spread and pre-existing trust gaps can be mitigated through authentic, locally-engaged storytelling that prioritizes genuine connection over bureaucratic messaging.

Ultimately, Dr. Maan and Lt. Col. Mann present call to action for institutional leaders, policymakers, and communication professionals to rediscover the innate human capacity for storytelling. They argue that the ability to craft and communicate meaningful narratives is a strategic imperative.