Lincoln But Trump: Narrative Metrics and Similarities Between Heroes and Villains

THE NARRATIVE DIAGNOSIS: I have some bad news for you — your AF (AND Frequency) is a bloated 3.8%, your N.I. (Narrative Index, BUT/AND ratio) is an anemic 4. There’s a real risk of you boring an audience to death.

The ABT Narrative Template, already famous for its use in “Cat Herding" and “silo busting," now has two very powerful metrics — the AF and the NI.

In this ground-breaking and original book, Lincoln But Trump, Randy Olson introduces a whole new quantitative component to both narrative structure and, crucial for today’s world, messaging.

Here, for the first time ever, are two very simple but powerful “narrative metrics” that now make possible the “narrative diagnosis” of content. The metrics do for storytelling the same thing a doctor does to assess your health — i.e. they tell you if you have a problem.

Is it quackery for simpletons? A fair question, but just look at the simple patterns that emerge, starting with the metrics for the legendary 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The data are as clear as "night and day" (the same comparison a reporter used to describe the two candidates). The results have been sitting there waiting to be discovered for 160 years.

It’s a whole new way to look at messaging and narrative strength for both the political and historical worlds.

- Park Howell, Host, The Business of Story Podcast

Following the basic ABT (And, But, Therefore) form that Olson has been researching for 15 years, he outlines the need for a quantitative approach. He introduces the two metrics, then applies them to the novel idea of, “Narrative Forensics” in which hypotheses can be tested by calculating the two metrics for various materials.

Using the two narrative metrics Olson shows how you can diagnose your own narrative strength, then work to improve it.

Download the appendices at http://abtnarrative.com or https://abtagenda.substack.com

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Hljóðbók: 3 juni 2025