Business Stories: Stories in Leadership

President Obama was on the Oprah show. When Oprah asked him how he thought he was doing so far his answer included "Part of leadership is telling a story of where we are going." He said he understood that during the campaign and thinks he did a good job of telling a future story then but he has not been doing such a good job of telling the story since the election.

It doesn't matter whether you agree with his politics or not he gets the power of story for leaders. People want to follow someone who has an idea of where they are going, stories communicate that vision. Stories make it easy for people to see the possibilities of a future world and inspire them to work towards that goal. It is hard to feel inspired or passionate for a goal when you have no idea what that goal is. A well told story will ignite the passion.

If your organization is facing changes (which ones aren't?) then think about what your vision is for the changes and create a narrative to share with your staff so they see your vision in your story.