"All happy families are similar; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." With this sentence, Lev Tolstoy begins his epochal work, one of the greatest stories in world literature: Anna Karenina. If you let this sentence melt in your mouth, you are looking inwardly into a mirror.
It's almost the same in the Business Storyteller family. All the lucky ones have something in common, but so do the unlucky ones. Which of the two categories do you belong to with your story - with your personal story (perhaps even your personal brand), your brand, your employer branding, your positioning story, your startup?
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TOO LAZY TO READ ON? THEN LISTEN TO ME:
In the blogcast, I read this recent blog article to you. With emphasis, of course!
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If you are one of the unfortunate ones, then you are part of a huge group. They always sing the same lament to me, in many voices, but in unison. The first line of the lyrics is: "We've actually already got everything we need for our story, but somehow we're not getting anywhere and we're standing in line." Do you know that?
I hear it over and over again. If this song were available on Spotify, it would be the clear number 1 in my annual review (even ahead of The Beatles).
"Actually, yes ... but somehow ... and."
There's the super-smart innovation professional and his super-smart team who put together a great project but don't get their pitch, and consequently the entire communication, right.
Or the author, who is in the process of building a fabulous value-tainment universe around a fantastic idea, but is overwhelmed by the flood of good things she knows how to tell and gets endlessly bogged down.
Or the industrialist who develops his brand with the utmost B2B professionalism, but keeps running into a glass wall and senses first-hand that something is missing, even though he has everything.
And then, of course, the question of all questions, which almost everyone asks themselves, whether big or small, young or old, B2B or B2C: "Why are we not managing to translate our brand story into employer branding and recruiting?"?
The top 3 super pains.
These unfortunates have something in common that reads like a map to the usual brand story pitfalls. Here are the top 3, which you probably also know from your own experience. Take the test!
1. your values are not WHY values, but HOW values. HOW (e.g. team spirit) is important, but hardly helps you in the story itself. A WHY value (e.g. Hornbach = creative power) makes everything and everyone flourish, is the core of the vision, drives the mission and thus everything else, first internally, then externally ... wonderful!
As a side effect, all too many companies have built their values on their goals. But the reverse is true: your goals should follow your values! Always! Without exception! Otherwise they are not values, but ... opinions, or something. That might make you chancellor in Germany, but it's not guaranteed to create a brand story. At least not the one you want, because a brand story is not the one that you tell yourself, but the one that others tell about you, if you are not standing next to them. It would be good if both matched.
Without WOFÜR values, in short, you have nothing. That means you already have something, namely a huge problem with your brand story.
2. you have not built your brand story FROM THE INSIDE OUT, but are working on the implementing narrative itself, even before you know the real, inner(!) story. Presumably because you have not defined the central, determining, guiding, driving, leading value (see 1.). This is the content and theme of the inner story, the core of the brand that really matters.
By the way: If you complete this exercise skillfully, you will automatically have your employer branding & recruiting story on the table.
3. your story lacks a CLEAR STRUCTURE including a transformation arc. Without transformation, there is no story. Nowhere! Not in Hollywood and not in Hollabrunn either. And certainly not in business storytelling.
There are a few more on this list of common mistakes, but for now we'll leave it at these most painful top 3.
Most companies and brands that feel that their brand story is unbalanced have one of these three problems, or all three together. Because if you have no WHY values, all other problems arise as a logical, unavoidable consequence.
Yes, there are plenty of them, the brand stories that don't have that, but still advertise, post and communicate heavily, and do so in an entertaining, exciting or funny way. To stay with the metaphor, however, these are what I call pontempkin brands: the façade is impressive, even effective at first, but behind it there is a yawning void. In the end, however, there is nothing but the noise of defeat.
If your goal (and it should always be in business) is to build a strong brand, a well-told story will only help you if you share it in all your appearances with a focus on the brand essence. "Focus pocus!" is the magic phrase for all of us - from solopreneurs to international mega-multinationals, for B2B, B2C, personal brands, services, industry and retail. The laws are universal. The lucky ones follow them, the unlucky ones don't. In this, everyone is the same.
It's also true for all of us: if you don't have a strong story, sooner rather than later all you can talk about is the price, while your heart sinks and your pants gradually fall to your knees. Who wants that?
What helps?
If you feel the same way as the many people in the above-mentioned states, you are probably asking yourself: "Markus, can you help us to take the decisive step forward here, and how long does it take?"
My answer: "Yes! And that often happens quickly, sometimes even very quickly." Because this happens so often, I have even developed my own programs for it.
First, there's my tried-and-tested powerhouse, the PowerHour. This hour alone is so powerful because it lasts 90 minutes and I help you achieve clarity, perspective and focus with selected tools and methods that I also use in my Platinum programs, so that your brand story finally gets going. My entire Story Dude know-how is in there anyway. And then you soon say something similar to Daniel, for example: "My expectations should be exceeded by far. I didn't just work with Markus Gull on my company's brand story, together we explored and defined the core of my company. He knows like no other how to immerse himself in your world and then accompany you on a journey to the actual core of your company. Thanks to his wealth of experience and his flexibility of thought, he asks the right questions at exactly the right time. He inspires you to make the most of yourself and your company." Wow! Thank you, Daniel!
However, sometimes it takes a little more than that. That's what the workshop program. We usually need one day + two half-days to get things up and running. During this time, I have even developed complete brand stories together with companies.
On the website of the New Story Academy you will also find all other programs and tools that may be useful to you. If you have a specific question, you can book a free check-in call directly in my calendar here (online). This is a gift for you personally, as a member of the happy Story Inside family.
Anyway, if you are stuck or unhappy with your Brand Story, please do the following:
1. check whether you have WOFÜR values and write them down.
2. have you developed your brand story from the INSIDE outwards and write down the inner story in one to three sentences.
3. check whether your story has a clear CONVERSION structure. If not, as a first aid measure, please use dthe Story ABC. You can download this tool for free here. All masterfully crafted stories work according to this ABC principle - from the brand to Tolstoy's marvels.
Why is this so important to me? Quite simply because I am convinced that most people want to and can do more with their companies & brands than just sell stuff. In our community, most of them are. They understand that we in the so-called economy have the powerful leverage to transform the dark narratives of our time about duality, dominance and destruction into a new story - the New Story. It begins with the words "It will be once" and then tells:
... of the true interconnectedness of everything in everything.
... of inspiration and inspiration.
... of boundless cooperation, also and even in antagonistic cooperation.
... from mutually empowering mentors.
... of work as an opportunity to shape the world.
... of experiencing meaning in growing through one's own contribution to the big picture.
... of growth and profit as a result of excellent, beneficial work.
This requires strong values that work from the inside out, and entrepreneurial people, managers, committed individuals who tell better stories better. That means you. And me too.
These lucky people have something in common: they have a task that fulfills them, their story.
So not only was Lev Tolstoy right, but also my grandmother, old Story Dudettova, with the first sentence from her epochal masterpiece, which reads: "New Story. New Glory."