How effective storytelling can humanize business in the face of monumental change

Reflections from Coburn Ventures: a Progressive Hedge Fund

Originally published by David Bujnowski, Partner at Coburn Ventures as a trend brief to investors. In this interview with Coburn Ventures — a progressive hedge fund that focuses on large-scale disruptive change — Michael Margolis, CEO, Get Storied, explains how telling your story in today’s business environment is key to responding to disruptive change.

David: I’ve always viewed storytelling as a powerful art but one that I had a hard time getting my arms around when it comes to its application to business. So my first question for Michael was about what Get Storied’s purpose is and what the value proposition of storytelling for businesses is.

What stood out to me immediately was the tie between storytelling and “monumental change”.

Michael: The purpose of Get Storied is to humanize business through the art of storytelling. Organizations and leaders are perpetually dealing with change, disruption, innovation … and uncertainty. Anytime there is change you’re moving from one story to another.

If we’re in a perpetual state of change, how does a CEO, a leader, or a brand communicate the new story to people?

The challenge: the world is changing and moving faster than we have time to update our story!!! And this cuts across every category, every business.

The question facing more and more businesses: how do we articulate a business’s new story in a way people identify and are attracted to it?

David: Michael’s points resonated with me, but I thought … “you know what would *really* help me understand the power of storytelling? … an example where I could see the ‘change’ … the disruption … the challenges … and how an effective story could really help a business.”

Michael obliged. :)

He pointed me to Airbnb and their “belong anywhere” campaign. You can see more of it here: http://blog.airbnb.com/belong-anywhere/

Great example! Let’s think about this: Airbnb — and the broader “repurposing existing capacity” business model that Uber shares — is potentially extremely disruptive … but it comes with a lot of “gunk” — — brand issues, legal battles, and a lot of potential lash back from large, deep-pocketed incumbents.

As far as its brand goes, Airbnb has the challenge of being associated with “cheap”, “inexpensive”, and “couch surfing”. But their “belong anywhere” campaign seems like a brilliant way to help people identify with the brand in a way that goes beyond being a “cheap hotel alternative”. Instead, it aims to set in motion a much more powerful narrative about COMMUNING and CONNECTING and BELONGING. In Michael’s parlance, the “belong anywhere” campaign touches on one of his “game changing” trends in the storytelling business: HUMANIZING BUSINESS.

KEY TAKEAWAY #1:
GAME CHANGING TREND: HUMANIZING BUSINESS

David: Michael suggests a “game changing trend” he is observing involves the humanizing of business, which takes many forms and involves many things…

It involves empathy. It involves business being more accessible… more approachable… more human. It involves a desire for more transparency. More people want to know where stuff comes from. More people want to know the story behind what they’re buying and who their buying it from.

It is happening largely thanks to social media, which quickly and efficiency spreads stories (that may or may not “stick”).

It’s affecting the way employees make choices about where the work. It’s affecting the way consumers choose what brands they identify with. And it’s affecting the way leaders are expected to lead.

It’s also getting harder to hide. It’s harder to have a tight, closed system, One change: previously, if you were an extremely abrasive personality but you “hit your number”, well, that was enough. This may still be largely true in a lot of organizations but there is increasing pressure to be human … to be more accessible … to be more approachable … to be more empathetic.

KEY TAKEAWAY #2:
WHAT WOULD SURPRISE US?

A favorite question we ask of our industry friends: What is one change in your industry that outsiders would be surprised by?

Michael: The first thing that comes to mind: … people would be surprised at how many senior leaders of major enterprises have a recognition and desire to “get storied” — that this storytelling, empathy, open communication is the future even though many are scared by it.

If 40 years ago, leaders of business were looking to Peter Drucker for leadership guidance … and if 15 years ago, they were looking to Jim Collins … today, they’re looking to Brene Brown who bases her thinking on vulnerability and empathy. The surprising part is that even the most conservative, old school institutions are taking part.

David: this ties rather nicely into our thinking about Routing Around Institutions. As more and more institutions get routed around, there are more and more companies facing disruption and a need to alter their story to try to reconnect with their audience. I can imagine how after years of resisting and fighting the change with anything from M&A to business model wars to cost cuts, more and more institutions are waking up and realizing that something more is needed.

KEY TAKEAWAY #3:
GAME CHANGING TREND #2: EVERYONE HAS A STORY

David: Michael calls this the 2nd game changing trend he is observing: “Everyone has a story”.

In many ways, this is similar to a pattern we see in many other industries these days: the breakdown of silos that empowers the masses with functionality once restricted to an elite few.

In early history, stories were written by institutions (E.g. church, rich people); because of technology, the storytelling process is becoming democratized.

Michael: the fundamental principle is that EVERYBODY has a story. It’s a cultural value if not a human right. It has happened literally in the past 20–50yrs and it is accelerating faster and faster. EVERYONE has a story and one that is worth telling. And everyone has the power and ability to be the author of her own life.

So what are the implications to business?

David: Michael suggests this helps provide the drive behind our creative economy and our entrepreneurial culture. I’d add that this will DEEPLY impact the amount of empathy a company MUST have to stay in business. If we have the ability to shape our own stories … and if there is a bevy of other options we can choose from (in keeping with hyper-personalization), then brands had better be listening to what we really want. If they don’t provide it, surely someone else soon will!

KEY TAKEAWAY #4: THE ROLE OF AGENCIES

What is the role of agencies in all this? Aren’t they in the business of storytelling?

Michael: Yes, they are! A 30 second TV spot is — at its core — a storytelling medium. And in the global PR firms, the fastest growing areas are around “change management”.

David: But their challenges — a disconnect, in Michael’s opinion — is that there is a language and a set of mental models for how many PR firms and agencies approach storytelling that perpetuate the very thing they’re trying to change. It’s often clinical, social science rubric that dehumanizes the process.

KEY TAKEAWAY #5:
WHERE IS THERE GREAT OPPORTUNITY?

David: I asked Michael what industry he thought was most ripe for change when it comes to storytelling.

He didn’t bat an eye: HEALTHCARE! Here, his thinking about humanizing business came through loud and clear.

Michael: “It doesn’t get more personal than health. And when we’re dealing with a health crisis, there are an incredible amount of emotions that come up. Guilt. Shame. Pain. Suffering. Sadness.

David: And Michael considers healthcare reform to be something that further dehumanizes healthcare. It’s about cost cutting and greater efficiency. It’s creating huge amounts of pressure that is stripping even more of the ability of physicians to be in deeper partnership with patients.

The balance to this is: what are the ways we can further humanize healthcare … which is what CONSUMERS want more.

David: Wow. This fits so wonderfully into some of the work we’ve been doing around healthcare and wellness. For example, there is one thread we’ve been pursuing that aims to identify some of the DISILLUSIONMENTS inside the healthcare system. The idea is that where there is disillusionment, there is a business opportunity.

Two that we quick identified:

• Disillusionment for the patient: “I want to be treated like a human … but I am treated like a number”.
• Disillusionment for the provider (doctor / nurse): “I want to provide care — it’s what I got into this business for — and I’m spending most of my time with bureaucratic paperwork and red tape and roadblocks”

Michael’s comments speak to both of these.

Let’s wrap up with one final example of how these trends (E.g. Humanizing a Business) synch with effective storytelling.

Michael mentioned Public Libraries as an area ripe for storytelling.

Michael: It’s an institution that is facing serious challenge, and there is work to be done to reframe the conversation so that people can see the use cases that most of us just don’t see right now — that these Libraries aren’t just places to go to “get a book”; they are also learning hubs, gathering places in the community, educational centers for tech literacy. There is a great “community” story that can be told. In many cities and towns, the library is the only non-commercial, non-denominational, (physical) gathering place in a community.

David: after this example … and the healthcare example … and the Airbnb example, one way I personally like to frame storytelling is this: in all of my work, I like to decouple (a) the product from (b) the *real service* it provides. This coffee cup (the product) next to me can be a place to store the liquid I’m about to drink … or it may be a paper weight that prevents my newspaper from flying away in a breeze … or it may be a billboard that tells anyone near me that I happened to travel in Denali National Park in Alaska.

The point: Every product has many underlying services it *can* provide. Airbnb can be a way to save money … but it can also be a way to meet new lifelong friends. One of the powers of storytelling that Michael woke me up to (expert storyteller that he is!) is that stories may help reveal a service that was always available but that we perhaps didn’t know was there … and if that service somehow resonated with us on a deep deep level (humanity), there is a great business opportunity.

In NYC or San Francisco? Join Michael live for LeanStory, a 1-day workshop for innovators, change-agents, and entrepreneurs on April 9 and April 16. Can’t make it? There’s always the free storytelling mini-course: The Red Pill.