Telling stories that open doors

People choose to work with you because they feel that you bring some value to the table. That is the core dynamic, and you have to influence it. Legitimation is not something you declare. It is something others grant. It happens in the mind of your audience, shaped by perception, context, and expectations. The most powerful way to influence that perception is through narrative.

Understanding which door you want to open

Your role, then, is to navigate what kind of legitimation is needed, and to offer the story that naturally makes it feel true. That story must make sense, feel earned, and be told in a way that resonates with the people you want to reach. Otherwise, the door remains closed. The legitimation matrix we introduced earlier can help here. Sometimes you need institutional legitimacy, grounded in proven achievements and recognised roles. Other times, contextual legitimacy, where your authority comes from relevant past experience. You have seen this problem before, and know how to deal with it. In some cases, it is social legitimacy that counts, being part of the right conversations, the right circles. And in others, situational legitimacy, showing up with clarity and resonance in a specific moment. Each of these asks for a different narrative lever. Knowing which door you are trying to open helps you decide which story to tell.

Narratives can take different forms. Sometimes it is a signature story, an emblematic episode that condenses something essential about your value and values. Other times, it is an orchestrated set of stories that unfold across multiple messages and touchpoints, building coherence and trust over time. What matters is that the narrative is not self-referential, but strategically shaped to deliver the right signals to the right people.

A concrete example is your LinkedIn presence, which today acts as a primary stage for personal legitimation. But it never works in isolation. People do not just read your “About” section. They skim your recent posts, look at your featured content, notice who comments, and pay attention to who you interact with. They absorb signals: tone, consistency, relevance, and alignment. Legitimacy on LinkedIn is not built through a single statement, but through an ecosystem of narrative cues that work together. Your story is always under construction, and always under interpretation.

Stories that make your case

This is why strategic narrative matters. If we go back to the legitimation matrix, we can see how signature stories can work within each of the four quadrants:

• In the institutional quadrant (objective + facts), your story should showcase clear outcomes and roles that are universally recognised, what you have led, built, or delivered.
• In the contextual quadrant (subjective + facts), your story should connect your past experience to the current challenge, showing domain mastery, industry relevance, or clear parallels that make your background applicable.
• In the social quadrant (objective + perception), what others say about you, who you are connected to, and how you participate in shared spaces all build the frame.
• And in the situational quadrant (subjective + perception), the story must be timely and resonate emotionally with the audience in a specific context, showing up as the right person at the right time.

A strong case is Hubert Joly, the former CEO of Best Buy. His signature story is not just the turnaround of a struggling company. It is the way he tells that journey. He does not merely report numbers. He frames his leadership as a shift from performance obsession to human-centred purpose, as detailed in his book The Heart of Business. In doing so, he activates institutional legitimacy through his track record, contextual legitimacy by showing how his past experience is now relevant to boards and leaders navigating complex transitions, social legitimacy by engaging in top-tier conversations on leadership, and situational legitimacy by aligning his message with the cultural moment. That earned legitimation gives him the right to tell a contemporary story on purpose-driven leadership, and the credibility to sit on top-level advisory chairs in top-tier boards.

That is the power of a well-crafted narrative. It does not just inform. It legitimises. It opens doors gives your personal brand the space to move, connect, and matter.