In the Wilderness
“The universe is not composed of atoms, but of stories.”
— Muriel Rukeyser
There’s a customer in the wilderness, “seeking the grail” — someone doing great work.
He hears a story, about a company doing great work.
He sees an ad which tells the same story about such a company, doing great work.
He reads the same story online about the company and its great work.
He seeks out a showroom, where they tell him the same story about the great work.
He requests a demonstration, and experiences the great work first hand.
He goes home, reads more literature, gets a follow-up call, and discusses the great work.
He returns and “buys the grail!” The great work becomes a part of his personal experience.
Soon, he meets another in the wilderness, seeking the great work, and tells him the story…
And the cycle repeats, and builds upon itself…
The Story of the Great Work (the search for the grail), only succeeds because it is told and retold in much the same way at every point of contact by every re-teller. The seeker finds the grail more easily when the repetitive stories align with each other and when his personal experience aligns with the stories.
Another way to express this timeless (perhaps ancient) communication truth is the old formula of Reach + Frequency = Purchase. It’s true, and more simply expressed — but it’s a formula — not a story. It doesn’t lend itself to poetic repetition, and it just doesn’t rhyme…
Look around! Your individual, business, family life, national and political identities are all comprised of unique experiences, which when shared through stories transcend the personal and become our shared culture. Stories are the building blocks of Culture. As you become fond of a story, passing it along, more people are touched by it, test it, find it to be true and pass it along themselves — the story and the culture grow with the re-telling.
Applications
1. For You
It’s hard. And it’s boring to repeat yourself. But then, it’s not about you, it’s about the reader, listener, customer, seeker, student, audience. For them, it’s shiny, new and as yet still a little hard to track. So help them out! Get over your own considerations and poetically repeat yourself until the listeners can play it back for you — and buy something!
2. For the Family
You already see this at home: we’re all moving at light speed in all directions simultaneously (with many of our family e-mails getting removed as clutter…). Everyone sticks to their habits and their habitual ways of thinking and behaving. We all tend to remain in motion until we collide with a force of greater magnitude — a parent or partner willing to repeat themselves until we change. Pick your battles and your issues; then repeat yourself until you succeed.
3. For the Office
“Guys! Last one out, turn out the lights and lock the doors! Guys, clear your stuff out of the break room fridge! Guys, we’ve got to bring the clients up to date for the prospectus review process! Hey All, the new story just got the “Go Ahead” from compliance! The companion literature is on its way to each of you for client distribution. The same story sits on the web site for access by the public, and the time is right for each of you to hit the road and start shaking hands and speaking to our long term clients! Get out there and tell the story! We are doing Great Work!”
The issues that bear repeating are legion, and we get worn down. But still, the leaders who can continue to repeat the stories which built the culture, will be the leaders who keep the culture fresh… Maybe that’s you!
Someone is out there in the wilderness seeking the grail…
The Great Work cannot speak for itself.
You’ve got to summon your courage and repeat that story yet one more time!
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