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If we are aiming to be this and not that, then we need to make choices that are consistent with this and not with that.
We’re used to leveraging the power of storytelling commercially to attract attention or gain an advantage over our competitors.
we continually have to reinvent ourselves, with bigger and better stories, to stay in the more-eyeballs game.
Companies and ideas fail because of a lack of resonance with the people they seek to serve.
we’re under-utilising one of our most precious resources—the power of our identity.
by setting out to find and tell the right story, we lose sight of the real story—the truth about who we are.
allow our stories to guide our actions, deepen our understanding and create meaning and belonging.
not working so well anymore. Today we differentiate by doing.
If a strategy is the path to your goal, tactics are the specific steps you take as you navigate that path.
PURPOSE AND VISION—Where you’re going and why. STRATEGY—How you’re going to get there. TACTICS—What you do along the way.
Differentiation begins by showing, not just telling, and every action should serve the purpose of advancing us towards our goal.
We make better decisions when we understand why
easiest part of telling your story is implementing the tactics—things
The hardest part is not only working out the mission, vision and values that are the foundation of your business, but also intentionally living them so you can achieve your goals.
the story-driven framework © 2017 Bernadette Jiwa
1. BACKSTORY: Your journey to now. 2. VALUES: Your guiding beliefs. 3. PURPOSE: Your reason to exist. 4. VISION: Your aspiration for the future. 5. STRATEGY: The alignment of opportunities, plans and behaviour: how you will deliver on your purpose and work towards your aspiration, while staying true to your values.
matters, we have to dig deeper in order to understand the connection between our personal stories and the work we do.
‘Business isn’t always about numbers.
It’s about people, and emotion.
Being story-driven is less about following brand guidelines and more about choosing to act in ways that are consistent with core values.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed about the prospect of getting it wrong, consider these decisions as deliberately placed waymarkers on the road to creating the impact you want to make.
Mahatma Ghandi said, ‘Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.’
We achieve maximum impact only when all five elements of our story—backstory, values, purpose, vision, and strategy—are prioritised over time.
we look for the shortcut to success or pursue goals that are more important to others than to ourselves.
It’s impossible to be intentional and deliberate if you don’t articulate and prioritise what’s important to you.
‘If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going.’ —Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight
Great companies know how and why they started.
Psychologists believe that the ability to distinguish yourself from others is essential to the development of successful social relationships.
Every part of Patagonia’s business strategy must support their purpose, which is to ‘Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, [and] use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis’.
‘It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.’ —Roy Disney
our decision-making process is more complex and far less rational than we realise.
Shared values allow us to unite around shared ideals.
Zappos’ core values and the foundation of their extraordinary culture are published on the company website:
10 Core Values
Your reason to exist ‘People work better when they know what the goal is and why.’ —Elon Musk
The Theory of Self-Determination explains that human nature exhibits the inherent growth tendencies of effort, agency and commitment.
we need to feel that we’re making a contribution to something that’s bigger than ourselves.
Without a sense of purpose, our health and wellbeing suffer.
Clinton explains her shortcomings in her best-selling book, What Happened. ‘In politics, the personal narrative is vital,’ she says.
people will be reluctant to support you unless they believe you.
Loyalty is achieved only with resonance.
VisioN Your aspiration for the future
Without a purpose, we don’t know why we’re on the journey.
without a vision, we don’t know the destination.
Your mission is your purpose—which
Your purpose is why you do what you do today and every day. Your vision is your aspiration for the future—the contribution you or your work will make.
‘Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge’—which
Strategy The alignment of opportunities, plans and behaviour
The vision informs the strategy.
Strategy is the how.
