Recently Zimbabweans were hit with the terrible news of the death of retired Army General, Solomon Mujuru. He was a genuine national hero – an endangered species in most countries. Right from the beginning, the story had ‘foul play’ written all over it, for most Zimbabweans.
If I was a psycho, jealous or ambitious somebody determined to murder a very high-profile national hero, I’d probably want to take the time to think up a good story first.
It’s murder 101 isn’t it?
I wouldn’t want people suspecting foul play.
A story about a war hero trained to survive explosions, dying in a fire set off by a candle, in a house that was fire-proof, with multiple easy to access escape routes and guards near by…not a good story.
I’m not saying it isn’t true, I’m just saying it’s hard to believe. There is the one in a million freak accident type chance that it’s actually true…but it’s hard to believe. And hard to believe is something you definitely want to avoid when you’re telling stories – especially in your business.
Once you tell a story, it’s gotta sound authentic to the market you’re trying to convince. The conventional business term is…
Credibility.
Credibility has to do with how believable your market considers your story. Credibility means that if you tell a story about being the ‘most affordable’ we believe you. If you claim to be the fastest, we don’t suspect foul play.
Two things.
- Choose your story carefully.
- Design your business around your story
You’ll make some mistakes. You’ll tell a story you can’t back up, you’ll make promises your business isn’t optimized to deliver consistently. I don’t know a business that hasn’t done it yet from Econet Wireless to Amai Moyo & Sons Sadza Joint
The trick is to get better at it, quickly. To learn to tell an authentic story your market can come to trust.
R.I.P. Rex.
to be frank Max i don’t appreciate the idea of you travelling along these lines, its irrelevant to what you are trying to point out! just can’t get the point.
For my self i think it’s very relevent. the concept of telling a story that the market can receive is an important one. Max have you read Michael Margolis by any chance? he also shares some good concepts about story telling.
I`m intrigued by the way in which you illustrated your point.However using your point of reference, it seems to me that the story you tell to the market is authenticated by the size of your business or the amount of power you hold.