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My name is Craig Honick, and I’m the founder of The Good People Research Company, and an applied ethnographer who studies group culture. I’d love for you to stick around and join me on Substack for The Guiding Narrative®. It’s a space to explore the deep inner story we each tell ourselves—usually without realizing it—that quietly shapes how we see the world, what we value, and how we relate to others.
Our own Guiding Narrative® runs in the background like mental operating software we didn’t know we installed. It is not obvious to us—but oddly enough, we tend to recognize it when someone else describes it to us. That’s where things get interesting.
Using proprietary ethnographic techniques, I’ve spent two decades developing and applying the Guiding Narrative® framework at my social research and advisory firm. Unlike traditional models that rely on researchers to interpret consumer values from the outside in, the Guiding Narrative® approach starts from within—using the internal blueprint people already follow to make sense of the world. It allows us to interpret data through the lens of how people actually assign meaning, revealing not just what they do, but why they do it.
As AI becomes increasingly ubiquitous, the need for a new framework to understand human behavior at scale becomes more urgent. AI excels at organizing, processing, and even generating insights from data—but if the data it’s working with isn’t aligned with how people actually make meaning of the world, it will only accelerate our ability to misunderstand them. Without a true human-centered lens, we risk scaling misinterpretation at unprecedented speed.
The Guiding Narrative® framework helps organizations and individuals meaningfully segment, understand, and communicate with their audiences—building credibility, trust, and lasting loyalty in the process. In today’s polarized world, it felt like the right time to open up this approach to a broader audience—anyone interested in strengthening human connection by seeing people more clearly and meeting them where they truly are.
When we start seeing others through their Guiding Narrative instead of assuming they share ours, we unlock real connection. Less judgment, more curiosity. Fewer standoffs, more “ohhh, now I get you.”
And yes, this has real-world value:
• In business: brands people love.
• In family life: fewer arguments, more hugs.
• In community: actual empathy.
Ram Dass said, “We’re all just walking each other home.” Let’s figure out how to do that—without stepping on each other’s toes.
I hope you remain subscribed and join the conversation. I’ll send (mostly) weekly emails to spark reflection and connection. A podcast is coming soon.
Thanks for being here. Let’s walk each other home.
Warmly,
Craig Honick
The Good People Research Company
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