I’m a part of a very quickly growing startup, and I’ve realized the power of narrative/storytelling big time in the last few months. It just doesn’t scale to tell everyone what to do, you have to get them all bought in on the Why via a compelling story and allow them to drive towards that through their own ideas.
Devil's advocate: story telling doesn't give people self direction. A lot of people need to be told what to do. HN isn't a great audience for this because there's a lot of entrepreneurs and doers here. Not everyone knows how to properly prioritize tasks or even how to come up with their own task list.
Strongly agree. For many people, it's just a job. Clear direction is a must. However it need not exclude narrative story telling. A leader needs to adapt their style of leadership to the people they lead and the situation they are in.
So then you need more layers of management. It is impossible for a CEO to tell everybody what to do. If the line engineers can't prioritize themselves then there needs to be layers of management who interpret the vision and convert it into priorities.
No one said it does. But if you tell someone "fix whatever is causing the disks on this machine to fill up" they're going to be more motivated to do so, and more able to make the best decisions about how to do so, if they know what the purpose, or "story," is, that they're a part of.
It's just like if you told someone to play the part of a random extra in a convenience store in a movie, they will do a better job if they know what the movie is about. Even the way you play an extra is different in a slapstick comedy vs. a movie about blood diamonds, for example.
That's why you still have a traditional management organization. Moreover, you avoid putting those people to whom you refer into decision-making roles. Strong narratives and storytelling help to guide those who are in decision-making roles so that they are aligned with you.
Very true. I built a business as a sole founder five years ago, and to this date, coming up with task lists and what to do next is the largest hurdle I face, almost daily.
A lot of projects to work on, a lot of things —create new stuff, do recurring tasks— to complete, but deciding what to do now, and what to do when, is incredibly difficult when you're on your own.
I have a few freelancers and an assistant and even deciding of their tasks is a little improvised.
"Why is it every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a brain attached?" - Henry Ford
"Hon Hai (parent of Foxconn) has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache" - Terry Gou
You're correct. You can't tell everyone what to do. Therefore you delegate and add middle management and have overarching goals.
Telling a narrative that everyone can interpret willy nilly and pick and choose the bits they like is basically "hoping" things go as you imagined them.
You need hope, but you also just need to check and follow up.
Different types of stories work with different people though.
Some perhaps joined for the mission. They want to continue believing in it. Some perhaps joined for business success, so they need to hear a different story, or the same story told through a different lens that relates to their goals.
