Tag: empathy

Storytelling

FabrizioLeave a comment

There are many ways to tell a story, but since companies find it so difficult, a good idea is to keep it simple and avoid overly complicated structures.

  1. The hero wants to achieve an ideal state.
  2. A challenge is holding them back.
  3. Your solution will clear the way and prepare them for the future.

Few pitfalls to consider.

  • The hero is never your product.
  • The more concrete and specific you can be with the challenge, the more it will resonate with the hero exactly at the right time.
  • The solution needs to be translated in the language of the hero, and it is never a list of features and spec.
  • You are gonna need different stories for different heroes (i.e. personas).

It’s not perfect, but if you are not already touching on these three points, in that order, in any conversation you are having with a prospect, this is a good way to wrap your mind around storytelling.

Replaceable

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you leave tomorrow, the company you work for will continue with their business as usual.

It doesn’t matter if you are doing great work. It doesn’t matter if everybody loves you. It doesn’t matter if your project has shattered all previous records, if the product you are leading is dominating the market, if your last campaign has brought in more business than all other campaigns combined.

It doesn’t matter if you are a regular employee, a manager, an executive, or the founder.

For as much as you think of yourself as the center of the world, most things will continue without you.

And that’s liberating.

Out of the nest

FabrizioLeave a comment

Shit happens, right?

We are all familiar with this way of saying. We have used it or heard it or written it o read it many times, in many different circumstances.

What we seem to not be very familiar with, though, is the actual situation of shit happening. We go about our lives as if we are seeking perfection, we convince ourselves that we can control every tiny detail, and eventually we are completely unprepared for the thousands of times when things don’t go according to plans.

We ought to learn to let go.

Not because we don’t care. Not because we have given up. Not because we turn our attention to something else.

But because we do care, we are committed, and we want to succeed.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.

Pema Chödrön

Defensive

FabrizioLeave a comment

When you get defensive during a conversation, you lose the opportunity to listen, to learn, to understand, and most importantly to move the relationship forward.

It is a strong impulse, instinctual almost.

Put some effort towards resisting it.

Right

FabrizioLeave a comment

Search for the right job. Search for the right partner. Search for the right people. Search for the right customer. Search for the right team. Search for the right time. Search for the right opportunity.

And it turns out that “right” is determined by the work you put in.

So instead of searching for an ideal, build your own ideal from the ground up.

It takes awareness, relentlessness, and acceptance.

It is worth it.