You don’t have to look very far online to see something about storytelling for business. There’s storytelling for leaders, storytelling for brands, and storytelling for managers. There is a storytelling program for just about everything. That’s good. Storytelling is very important in all those areas. Unfortunately, most of what I’ve seen in the way of storytelling speaking, training, coaching, or consulting, is about tactics and strategies. Most of them can work, but only for a limited time and limited impact. Most of those programs are missing a key ingredient, and that’s what I’m here to talk to you about.
What is the missing ingredient? What do they not include that is absolutely imperative if they are going to work long term?
What’s missing can be summed up in one word. You.
Most storytelling programs address things you DO but skip who you ARE. They give you tools and tactics, but don’t build a solid foundation on which a business, or an impactful life, can be built. Without that foundation, without YOU as the mortar that holds it together, no business, no life, can fully realize all they have to offer the world. They might get results, for a while, but they can’t soar high enough or long enough to impact, to really change the world for the better. I’m not here today to simply give you a couple of storytelling tricks that might help you make another sale or earn a few dollars more. I’m here to help you discover and write a story of you that will allow you to create a Blockbuster Life, and a Blockbuster Life is the foundation on which every Blockbuster Business is built. People, living into their highest potential, is the only thing that has ever build an truly Blockbuster Business.
Okay, so what is a Blockbuster Life or Blockbuster Business? I define a blockbuster life as one that fully engages, inspires, and motivates you to live into your highest potential. A Blockbuster Life or a Blockbuster Business can only happen when you are engaged at the core of your being and energizing that core to interact with the world. It’s revealed and powered by the story that makes you fully who you are and that compels you to live into it every moment of your life. Blockbuster Lives are the lives of everyday superheroes, like you. Let’s look at one Superhero as an example.
With all the Superheroes in the theaters these days, I still have a soft spot for Superman. Traditionally, Superheroes wear costumes that hide who they really are. The Batman costume hides Bruce Wayne. The funky Spidy costume hides Peter Parker, and even Deadpool’s costume hides Wade Wilson. But when you see Superman, you aren’t seeing a costume. Clark Kent is the costume. Clark Kent is the invisible, innocuous entity that Superman occupies when he doesn’t want people to know who he really is.
Clark Kent is perceived of as a powerless minion who simply does what he’s told. He doesn’t stand out. He doesn’t seek to change the world for the better. He simply wants to do his job and stay in the background, invisible. Clark Kent is the antithesis of Superman. Superman is out there, fearlessly challenging evil in the world. He is someone who always seeks to do the right thing and to make the world a better place. Superman is living a Blockbuster Life and if he showed up at the Daily Planet as Superman everyday, it wouldn’t take long for the Daily Planet to become a Blockbuster Business. I believe we are all Superman. I believe we wear our daily clothes so we can be invisible, and safe, as we trudge through our daily tasks. Superman doesn’t simply trudge through the day, he flies through it making the world a better place.
When we are energized, inspired and motivated by our own powerful story to live life as fully as Superman does, then we are living Blockbuster Lives and can build Blockbuster Businesses.
