Who’s telling your story?
Someone is going to tell your story. Will it be you or will other people define your life’s work?
The story of growing your own business isn’t just about your company, it’s a big part of your life story and the story of your community. With our (totally free) process, we’re beside you every step of the way as we help you tell, write, and share your story to the widest possible audience.
Take control of your story. Let us start your story today!
Telling your story is a must.
Telling your story isn’t a magical formula for improving every aspect of your business, but it’s pretty darn close.1 If you want to give workplace culture a boost, become a better leader, increase revenue, and strengthen relationships with customers and your wider community, you simply must tell your story.
Why is storytelling so powerful?
Storytelling builds trust.
“To be successful, companies must build trust with their employees and consumers,” writes Harvard University business professor Ranjay Gulati.2 This requires that companies identify, communicate, and demonstrate their commitment to what Gulati calls deep purpose.
“People support businesses they believe in: therefore, leaders need to share what they believe in.”3 Connecting with your own business “start story” — your ultimate why — helps you highlight the deep purpose that leads to success.
Storytelling makes connections.
Connecting with your story helps you gain what top Japanese business professors call “practical wisdom,” which allows you to concisely relate the essence of a complex situation so you can communicate more effectively with a wider audience.4
In this way, storytelling increases the number of relationships we have. Additionally, by describing the experiences that demonstrate how we came to see the world the way we do, storytelling helps us appreciate the assets, values, and contributions of those who may have different beliefs.5
Storytelling brings in business.
“Having purpose and values as a business sells, but to do that, they need to be communicated with a story that captures people’s attention.”6 We may buy things from a store or do business with a company, but we want to know that, behind the institutions, we’re ultimately connecting with other human beings.
This is why, “there is a strong link between empathy and commercial success.”7 Stories are vital for making the emotional connections that people will remember long after they’ve forgotten facts about your company.
Storytelling improves performance.
Confucius taught, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest.”8 Researchers at Harvard Business School have confirmed this ancient maxim: Making time to reflect increases future job performance even more than gaining new experience.9
In technical terms, “performance is positively affected by deliberate learning efforts aimed at articulating and codifying past actions.”10 Our process is designed by experts from academia to unearth your past actions whose codification can improve job performance.
How it works.
Sure, you want all these benefits, but you may be concerned it’s too time-consuming. No way!
Our interview questions allow you to quickly and effectively communicate the core elements of your story. We then turn your answers into content for you to publish (for free) that will draw people in and help you build meaningful relationships with customers, your employees, other leaders, and the wider community.
We’ll also encourage your local chamber of commerce to publish a story about you and, if your responses are thorough, we’ll pitch your story to business journalists and bloggers and even your local news! No charge, no catch.
Your story is the most powerful tool for amplifying your influence and unlocking business growth. Let’s get your story started!
Click here to book a live interview session.
For more detail about how our process works, visit this page.
Read about why we do this for free.
To find out how to speak to someone to get more information, follow this link.
Photos by Etienne Girardet, S O C I A L . C U T, Raphaël Biscaldi, Volodymyr Hryshchenko, Joshua Sortino, and Tom Barrett on Unsplash.
Notes:
1 Amy Blaschka, “The Best Leaders Do This One Rare Thing,” Forbes, Sept 23, 2019, para. 3, https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyblaschka/2019/09/23/the-best-leaders-do-this-one-rare-thing/?sh=1a774a9b70a7; Celinne Da Costa, “Why Every Business Needs Powerful Storytelling to Grow,” Forbes, December 19, 2017, paras. 12–13, https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2017/12/19/why-every-business-needs-powerful-storytelling-to-grow/?sh=46503e8243b0; Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary P. Piaso, Bradley R. Staats, “Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning,” Harvard Business School Working Paper 14-093, https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/14-093_defe8327-eeb6-40c3-aafe-26194181cfd2.pdf; Park Howell, “A Simple 10-step Brand Storytelling System to Clarify Your Business Story,” The Business of Story, accessed July 8, 2022, https://businessofstory.com/story-cycle/; Ikujiro Nonaka, Hirotaka Takeuchi, “The Big Idea: The Wise Leader,” Harvard Business Review, May, 2011, pp. 4, 8, https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-big-idea-the-wise-leader#:~:text=In%20an%20era%20when%20discontinuity,and%20Washington%20Mutual%20from%20failing; Carolyn O’Hara, “How to Tell a Great Story,” Harvard Business Review, June 30, 2014, https://hbr.org/2014/07/how-to-tell-a-great-story.
2 Ranjay Gulati, “What Does Your Business Stand For? Why Building Trust Starts with Purpose,” Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, April 26, 2022, https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/what-does-your-business-stand-for-why-building-trust-starts-with-purpose.
3 Genevieve Georget, “The Importance of Sharing Your Story: Why Leaders Need to Offer More Than Their Opinions,” Real Leaders, Apr 13, 2021, para. 10, https://real-leaders.com/why-leaders-need-to-offer-more-than-their-opinions/#:~:text=Sharing%20Your%20Story%20Versus%20Your%20Opinion&text=The%20challenge%20with%20opinions%20is,other%20hand%2C%20is%20an%20experience..
4 Nonaka, Takeuchi, pp. 4, 8; see also Blaschka, para. 3; Di Stefano, Gino, Pisano, Staats, p. 27; John Eades, “Why Great Leaders Share Knowledge with Their Team (and the Masses),” Learnloft, Oct 27, 2021, paras. 15–22, https://learnloft.com/2021/10/27/why-great-leaders-share-knowledge-with-their-team-and-the-masses/#:~:text=As%20a%20leader%2C%20your%20example,a%20collaborative%20and%20elite%20culture.; Wayne Elsey, “A Lesson on the Importance of Self-reflection in Business,” Forbes, Mar 6, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2020/03/06/a-lesson-on-the-importance-of-self-reflection-in-business/?sh=312b02a058d0Elsey.
5 Georget, para. 18.
6 De Costa, para. 8.
7 De Costa, para. 11; O’Hara; Pia Silva, “How Better Storytelling Will Lead To An Increase In Sales For Your Brand,” Forbes, November 15, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/piasilva/2021/11/15/how-better-storytelling-will-lead-to-an-increase-in-sales-for-your-brand/?sh=ed9ffcd37c52.
8 Qian Kan, “12 Famous Confucius Quotes on Education and Learning,” Open Learn, Open University, March 1, 2019, no. 7, https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/12-famous-confucius-quotes-on-education-and-learning#:~:text=%22By%20three%20methods%20we%20may,%2C%20which%20is%20the%20bitterest.%22.
9 Di Stefano, Gino, Piaso, Staats; see also Ashley P. Duggan, Andrea Vicini, Lucas Allen, Allen F. Shaughnessy, “Learning to See Beneath the Surface: A Qualitative Analysis of Family Medicine Residents’ Reflections about Communication,” Journal of Health Communication 20, no. 12 (2015): 1441–1448; Katherine Wasson, et al., “Physician, Know Thyself: The Role of Reflection in Bioethics and Professionalism Education,” Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 5, no. 1 (2015): 77–86.
10 Di Stefano, Gino, Pisano, Staats, pp. 5–6.