What is missing from (almost) all strategies that fail?

And so frustration and helplessness take over. Until the next time, when our hearts are full again at the start, but the voices grow louder and more numerous, shrieking one of my favorite destructive mantras into the world: “This isn’t working—we’ve already tried everything…”

After time-consuming maneuvers, workshops, elaborate consulting marathons with consulting firms, and offsite management meetings, grandiose strategies and well-structured processes do indeed pile up on the servers as PowerPoint files, which are then distributed to the next level of managers and projected during town hall meetings and team retreats (if ClickShare happens to work for once), yet most of it never makes it to “where the rubber hits the road,” as the Mad Men so aptly put it in the 1950s.

At best, there are still posters with guiding principles hanging in the lobby, but the employees walk past them like ships passing by abandoned lighthouses in the dark of night.

What's Really Missing

I often receive requests for my guidance and support from precisely these places of pain. Because someone senses that something might not be working with their storytelling.

That's true. And that's not true either—at least not entirely.

The truth is that in most cases, it's not the strategy that's flawed. Often—and this is all the more painful—it's actually the exact opposite.

It's also true that storytelling usually doesn't work.

But what’s really missing isn’t a better prompt for an AI tool or a frame that pulls the wool over everyone’s eyes by replacing the term “job cuts” with “resource optimization”—it’s the story that underpins it all, the narrative. The story of a better future for everyone—one that everyone believes in because they want to believe in it. And then, of course, the practical skills involved in storytelling—yes, that too. In fancy terms, this is called “narrative competence.” It’s one of the key 21st-century leadership skills, and it can be learned. From me, for example—just give me a call.

A prime example of this kind of trouble, combined with a fatal lack of narrative skill, can be seen in the German auto industry, particularly at VW. Please don't try this at home! Don't even think about it!!!

The Storyteller

Ever since we, Homo sapiens, through the magic of evolution, developed the ability to speak and, subsequently, our invisible superpower of storytelling—transforming ourselves into Homo narrans, the storytelling human—we have been explaining ourselves and each other through stories, narratives, and stories—what is, what should be, what will be, why it should be, and what good it does; what we hate, what we love, what we respect, and what we condemn.

How well we tell the story—that is, our storytelling skills—does play a role. But the main role is played by the story itself, which can also be described as the meaning behind it all, the belief that underpins it.

Six Laws of Narrative

And so, six laws of foundational narratives apply—from the inhabited prehistoric cave to the fully glass-enclosed corporate meeting room in the penthouse, from Hollywood to Hollabrunn, from brand stories to blockbusters—today and for all eternity:

1. Those who tell the relevant stories shape the world.
2. For change to happen, we don't need to fight against existing circumstances; rather, we need to change the narrative behind them—that is, offer a new, better, and more relevant narrative so that the old one becomes obsolete.
3. The only thing that matters is what is relevant to the listeners, not to the storytellers. The story must be about them; otherwise, it won't be heard.
4. People don’t follow KPIs, numbers, data, and facts—they follow what they can believe in, a grand dream they want to be a part of. That’s why Dr. King said, “I have a dream,” and not, “I have a strategy paper, 200 PowerPoint slides, and a massive Excel file that no one can read because the font is so small. Amen.”
5. Those who provide people with direction and show them why they matter, why they are essential at every level of the organizational chart, and how they can realize their potential in the process—they win people’s hearts. And they say that whoever wins people’s hearts can dance with them.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry summed this up so well in his famous quote that, given its profound significance, it should be established as an introductory seminar for the study of leadership through narratives: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up a crew to gather wood, assign tasks, and organize the work—instead, teach the men to yearn for the vast, endless sea.”

Put simply, this sentence means nothing more than: “If we manage to build the best possible ship here and now, with what we have and what we can do, we will leave the island and gain our freedom. If we don’t succeed, we will languish on the island, deprived of our freedom.”

Which brings us to the last law:

6. At the heart of every compelling, meaningful, convincing, inspiring—and therefore effective, because it moves people—story there is always a central value that matters to everyone, one that must be saved, strengthened, or brought into the world in the first place.

If the core value is missing, any story is worthless. And by “value,” I do not mean market value, but rather a vital cause that underpins and drives our actions and transforms our work into a mission that we fulfill—and that ultimately fulfills us. Freedom, for example, as in the case of Monsieur Saint-Exupéry.

Only when these narrative rules are met can storytelling begin, because only then is there truly something to tell. Without the necessary adherence to these rules, the result is either rambling or confusing. Always.

You can find narratives, but you must never make them up. Here’s the good news again: You can learn all of this, and it’s not that hard.

What to do?

No matter what strategy, change, transformation, or new idea you, as a leader, want to bring to the organization and your team, always follow this step-by-step plan:

1. Know your core values—or at least the central core value that your strategy is intended to realize, preserve, or strengthen. And don’t confuse the “why” values (e.g., freedom) with the “how” values (e.g., team spirit).
2. Align your company's priorities with your employees' values—with what matters to them—and translate your company's goals into your employees' hopes and aspirations.
3. If you don't know these values, start by doing some fundamental work on your values. That's the foundation, the core, and the axis for everything that follows. If you try to cut corners here, you'll fail. Take my word for it.
4. If you don't know the core " why " of your company, you need to figure it out. Because any further strategy can only be an interpretation of that "why."
5. Once you’ve found the “why,” be sure to expand it to include a “what for” and a “for whom.” Because the “why” is very often rooted in a painful experience from the past, while the “what for” and “for whom” point toward potential and the future—toward where we can create and improve things. By the way, the future is nothing more than the story of where and how we want to live.
6. Always start from the inside out: the team before the customers, you before the team. Because if you don’t know your own story, you can’t lead yourself or anyone else. What doesn’t shine from within can’t radiate outward—it can only blind. It’s like a will-o’-the-wisp—only seemingly so.

It's your turn

If you’re in charge of a team of leaders or, as a leader yourself, are responsible for ensuring that strategies or transformation processes within the company are understood, embraced, and put into practice, then one of your key tasks is to possess narrative competence and storytelling skills—or to ensure that everyone else acquires them. You always need this—without exception—if you don’t want to fail. Because if you appeal to people’s rational minds, you’ll miss the mark.

Investing time and money in learning AI skills is anything but a bad idea. Especially if you want to become an assistant to an app that pretends to be your slave. But the future will be shaped by those leaders who inspire, motivate, and empower others. The invisible superpower—your leadership power—is narrative competence. You can then enhance that with AI.

You can neither change nor motivate people. All attempts fail, whether through rewards or threats, whether it’s a fruit basket, a ping-pong table, or a fruit basket on the ping-pong table. Pay raises don’t buy your way out of frustration; they just pave the red carpet to the emergency exit with gold.

What works—and I’m not afraid to say it’s the only thing that works, because it’s also the only thing that has ever worked—is when a person inspires others and gets them moving with an engaging story that’s relevant to everyone. That’s the only way change happens.

This is one of the insights I’ve gained over my decades of consulting in advertising, marketing, leadership, coaching, and mentoring—after many detours and attempts to fight against it. I wish I’d come to this realization much earlier and been able to share it. That way, I could have spared myself—and many others—a great deal of hardship. And above all, I wouldn’t have wasted my potential—or that of so many others—and wouldn’t have been so heavily poisoned by the bitterness of a life left unlived.

You can tell better stories more effectively.

That is the burning motivation that drives me to take the stage as a keynote speaker to inspire people with a New Story—and why I founded the New Story Academy. Because here, together with my team and colleagues, I help others find their new—and better—story and tell it more effectively.

In other words, people like you—leaders who are on a journey of self-discovery for themselves, their company, their team, their brand, or any other endeavor. They’re searching for a deeper meaning, for their mission, their purpose, their cause, their “why”—call it what you will—so they can successfully navigate these times of multiple upheavals. We call it: They’re on the path to discovering their inner story.

We achieve this by supporting these exceptional individuals on their journey through our mentoring programs and workshops, equipping them with the best craft expertise and extraordinary, tried-and-true tools so they can quickly and easily find, write, and tell their powerful stories. For personal development, for companies and brands, in team leadership, and in practical writing—from day-to-day business to content and presentations of all kinds. And, of course, for brand narratives, change, transformation, and a strengthening corporate culture.

When leaders create value in this way, they build resilient relationships with employees and customers because they turn purpose into meaning, elicit a “Wow!” reaction, and have an empowering effect. Please spread the word!

The economy has long been the most powerful narrative machine of our time. Attached to it, within easy reach, is a lever of responsibility that each and every one of us could pull—right where we stand, with what we have, right here and now. Build a ship.

If you want to do this for yourself, your team, or your company, and need guidance on the journey from “Why” to “Wow!” and impact—to build your purpose-driven, foundational narrative—you know where to find me. For example, on my website, markusgull.com. There, you can book a free initial consultation and see what I have to offer with my toolkit.

And then your toolbox will be stocked with everything you need in terms of narrative competence and storytelling skills to serve you in the very best way possible.

For even if, in these times of upheaval, change, and transformation, not a single stone may remain standing, my grandmother’s words—the old Story Dudette—will endure for all eternity, the words she carved as the eleventh commandment on Moses’s stone tablets: New Story. New Glory.