The Start UP Writer Idea Machine

CAPTIVATE CHAPTER TWELVE

If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.

~Yogi Berra

HOW RELEVANT IS Your STORY IN TODAY’S WORLD?

Stories are repeatable shorthand’s — ways to make it easy for your audience to understand your idea and share it.

Look at The Babe. There’s hardly anyone around who actually witnessed the “called shot” when the Baseball great pointed to Center Field with a promise to crack a homerun from the next pitch.

Yet everyone knows the story.

It contains relevance, so much so that it’s featured in movies and television on a regular basis. The Babe was a hero to millions, so the story becomes legend, and the legend lives in our hearts.

That’s relevance.

Recently, the story came into question with detractors saying it never happened. But it doesn’t matter now that it’s a legend. Yes, stories need to be factual, and believable, but they can be embellished. Like a tall tale, or a fisherman’s yarn.

Sports stories are the easiest to tell and wonder if it’s a tale. Would a real boxer take a beating like Rocky and keep on punching? (Joe Frazier and Rocky Marciano)

Would a college football team really carry a scout team player off the field of glory? (Rudy)

Would an ice hockey team really pull together to win a game that cracks the foundation of Soviet Russia? (Miracle on Ice)

These are legendary stories because they tap into archetypes, and archetypes exist at every level of an organization.

Brett Favre and Nolan Ryan hold records for starting every game. They show up and get the job done. Who in your organization is that dedicated? And how can you capture that dedication and share that story with the audience?