What twenty years of journalism taught me about why organizations can't tell their own story.
I didn’t set out to become a narrative consultant. I set out to be a journalist — and after twenty years of watching mission-driven organizations struggle to explain themselves, I realized the two things weren’t as different as I thought.
The organizations I covered weren’t failing because their work wasn’t meaningful. They were failing because they hadn’t figured out how to talk about it in a way that landed. That gap is why I started COJA Services. And it’s why this publication exists.
What you’ll find here
Every episode of Get Me to the Gray — COJA’s podcast about the conversations we’re told we shouldn’t have — gets a companion post here. Not a transcript. My actual thinking about what the conversation surfaced and what it means for organizations trying to communicate in a polarized world.
I also write about current events when they have something to teach us about narrative. A campaign that lost the messaging war. A ballot initiative that won by reframing the question. A movement that found its voice at exactly the right moment.
Two pieces to start with if you’re new here:
Don’t Call Me a Flack — why narrative consulting is not PR, and why that distinction matters
Breaking Through the Noise — how the attention economy reshaped information, and where judgment fits in
Who I am
I’m Paula Lehman-Ewing — journalist, author of Reimagining the Revolution, and founder of COJA Services. I’ve covered criminal justice, civil rights, and the organizations trying to change both for outlets including BusinessWeek, Reuters, Forbes, and Fortune.
The work is rarely the problem. The narrative is.
If that resonates, subscribe. New posts land here before anywhere else.
