What our brain best understands and remembers are the stories. Before the invention of writing, knowledge was transmitted through stories. Our survival depended on it: Your mother telling you not to go into the forest is practically an invitation to adventure.
Listening to the drama of an ancestor who died devoured by a tiger in the forest is something you don't forget.
That's why we humans are so powerfully attracted to a good story: It's part of our nature.
Taking advantage of this irresistible attraction for a good story, colossal businesses have been created, such as cinema and television, literature and theatre, painting and sculpture.
Politicians win elections by telling stories, not giving facts.
In business, storytelling, branding and the vision of a company is to explain a product, a brand or an objective through a story. The best story wins.
But the most important story is the one you tell yourself. Who are you? Where do you come from? Where are you going? Why do you do what you do?
Are you a hero? A failure? An adventurer? A fighter? A victim? A leader? A follower?
Your story is not written in stone. You can reinterpret your past, act in the present and change the future. We can change our destiny and that of our companies by changing the way we perceive ourselves or our organizations.
Part of my job is to guide my clients through this process of change.
Who are you? What is your story? What is the history of your company?
Take some time this week to answer these questions in writing. I'm sure this exercise is revealing. If you want to change your history or that of your company, write to me.
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