ALT Mäkelän ääni kumisee muuten hiljaisessa autossa, kun hän luettelee kolme tärkeintä saavutustaan kaupunginjohtajan taipaleella. Espoo-tarinan luominen on Mäkelälle yksi tällaisista. Espoo-tarina on narratiivimuodossa kerrottu Espoon toimintasuunnitelma. Mäkelä kokee, että kerronnallisen muodon avulla kaupunkilaiset ymmärtävät paremmin, miten Espoota kehitetään. Espoo-tarinaa käytetään kaupunginjohtajan mukaan opetusesimerkkinä Aallon lisäksi jopa Oxfordin huippuyliopistossa Englannissa.

ALT Defining a sustainability-oriented strategy was seen as the starting point for transformative management in the city, as it responds to the need to have a common vision of the future and to bridge sectoral gaps. Yet, sustainability targets were sometimes seen as contradictory. In such situations, a lack of shared understanding of common targets could hinder their implementation. Hence, it was argued that operationalizing broad transformations such as sustainability is predicated upon building cross-sectoral understanding and legitimacy of the desired change. This entailed overcoming organizational siloes and hierarchies to include various viewpoints and value propositions in the strategy. In Espoo, creating the city strategy took two years and comprised multiple consultations with city employees and citizens. The strategy was then put into a narrative form using storytelling methods to communicate the desired changes more effectively. It was argued that a strategy drafted in the form