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There’s Nothing More Powerful and Prevalent in the World than Story

Everything you say, believe or think is the result of a story you’re telling yourself. Money means power.  Story. Love triumphs. Story. The Ivy League rules. Story. We need more market share, people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, house the homeless. Stories. All of them. Some perhaps more honest than others, but it’s important to recognize that you shape your world by the stories you believe. Whether they’re true or not, you act out of your beliefs, and those actions form your life. The stories and beliefs your company acts out of creates the company.

Your company needs a clear and compelling story because when you have that, you’re not merely providing a commodity. A commodity can be replaced and manufactured cheaper by someone else. Instead you’re offering intangibles, the things people really want. (Love, peace, freedom, etc.) For every product, you need to identify what the intangible value is or could be. People may think they’re seeking products or services, but they’re not. They’re seeking intangibles.

Intangibles require strong verbs, which engage people emotionally. Choose the right intangible and verb, and you don’t need adjectives. (Jumpstart love, initiate peace, lionize freedom.) Adjectives are about sales. You don’t want to sell people. You want to engage them. Thrill them. Romance them a bit. But don’t sell them. Captivate them, and they’ll be back for more. 

Steve Jobs was a master of captivation. Apple could sell at a high margin because Jobs enlightened us with stories. When he introduced the iPhone, it wasn’t about the product. It was about what the product revealed to and about the purchaser. Audiences hung on his every word. We knew we were going to get that kiss from the prince and an additional squeeze on the bum—that “one more thing.” We revered him and couldn’t wait to hear his stories. Once his cancer was progressing, we paid closer attention, because his failing health became part of the conflict. Suddenly the antagonist in Jobs’ story was no longer stagnant or falling sales: It was death.  

Yet a component Jobs seemed to miss is that employees are a big piece of the story. Or should be. Your company can be more successful by training its employees to recognize and tell powerful, yet simple, stories. Their own stories first, and then their company’s. Some companies view employees as assets, while others see them as expenses. These are just stories, but different stories yield different results. Employees, employers, and competitors all behave according to the stories told about them. 

In Hollywood, movies are pitched with high-concept loglines, a single sentence that captures the essence of the entire story or communication. Multimillion-dollar investments are made (or not made) based on whether one sentence can intrigue producers and studio heads. When your employees learn how to capture their audience with one sentence, customers and peers will lean in for more, leading to strengthened relationships and heightened profits.

Stories take many routes but share one goal in common: To guide us home. Whether it’s our personal journeys, Odysseus’ or E.T.’s voyages, or even the trek of an unsympathetic protagonist like Michael Corleone. The hero’s journey or sitting atop the Mafia pile represents the same thing to all these characters—and to us: 

Home.

Knowing your story is just the beginning of the story.™