Are you Story Driven ?
Our Business is the byproduct of our Story.
In her last book, “Story Driven: You Don’t Need To Compete When You Know Who You Are”, Bernadette Jiwa explains and illustrates this with a framework and plenty of examples.
A company is either competition-driven or story-driven.
The competition-driven company is reactive to the marketplace and prioritises beating its competitors and racking up profits.
The story-driven company is responsive to customers and prioritises having a clear sense of purpose and identity. It makes little reference to the competition and is intent on creating an impact.
The story-driven framework can be summarized in 5 words:
Strategy, Vision, Purpose, Values and Backstory.
The backstory is our journey to now (past), the purpose and values define our reason to exist and our guiding beliefs (present), and the vision and strategy are our ambition for the future and the plan to get there (future).
The central part of the book provides 15 case stories including the story-driven frameworks of Tesla, Michelin and IKEA to name just a few.
Finally, the author explains us how to build our own framework, beginning with a quote by Neil Gaiman, a famous comics and short fiction author:
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision”.
A short but great read, especially if your goal is to articulate your story in a very simple, authentic and efficient way.
