Book Review
by Eskedar Maštavičienė
The main idea of the author?
The author believes that story telling is
still an underutilized and powerful tool to communicate with customers. If your
customers are human beings his
ideology works not only for the successful and strong brands but also for
innovators, start-ups, social initiatives, NGOs, SMEs and also individuals.
His theory towards innovation is that, the
goal of innovation is to benefit humanity. Nonetheless for innovation to be successful
and acceptable it needs to be communicated to the end user and for that reason
we need a story and A BIG ONE so that everyone could find a space to identify
themselves in your story.
„Most innovators know deep
in their hearts that what they’re trying to communicate would benefit humanity…if they
could only get others to see, care, and believe in the same story. Somehow we’re
missing the core language we need to re-envision and re-invent
this world. Storytelling
is about making choices, and every choice reflects a deeper set of beliefs and values.
Your choices have everything to do with how the story is received, accepted, or rejected by
others. Can people belong and identify with your story? “
The author has sited many inspirational
quotes by POTUS Obama, philosopher, writers, entrepreneurs and many
more specialists. The writer provide a lot of reference for his findings and those books are leadership books, inspirational books, management books and many more..
The book seems as a draft of what is to
come i.e. series of books. Based on the ideas expressed in the chapters he
could simply expand the ideas and turn them to powerful books.
The chapter I loved the most was the first; take your time to read it. In my own words I would recite it as this: if you
are an innovator the message means that you are the only one who has power to
convince that your idea or a product is worth a while. The market is not waiting
for you. Life goes on and don’t be surprised if your customers do not care
about neither your product nor you. When you are gone looking for or working on
your next miracle for humanity, there is a probability that you might even be forgotten
just like the Hero. The Long Walk Home is the walk you take to your desired life
path in your career or business, growing your brand, building communities etc...you just need to remember that it might not be
easy to re-integrate, convince and succeed with your goal, but it is not impossible.
You will be tried, and you need to make sure that you have your big story and
the magic of making everyone to want to reserve a space under your umbrella. We
as human beings we like to belong somewhere.
The Long Walk Home
„The Hero’s Journey is one of our oldest
stories.
There’s an important part to the Hero’s
Journey that often gets overlooked. It is, in my
opinion, of the greatest significance to the
innovator, change-maker, and visionary.
Let me remind you how the basic story goes…
We find the
hero living an ordinary life. One day something happens that makes her
somewhat
uncomfortable. But she dismisses this feeling and goes back to her familiar
pursuits.
Signs continue to appear, until finally something pivotal tells her that she
can
no longer
ignore the call to adventure.
So the hero
gathers her courage, and leaves mostly everything else behind. She heads
out of the
village and into the wilderness. She doesn’t yet know her destination, she just
knows that she
can no longer remain and accept the status quo. As she travels through
the unknown,
she unavoidably gets lost. And along the way, teachers appear and she
learns new
skills that build her confidence.
Eventually she
makes her way to a mountain. Various tests and tribulations follow
as she tries
to make her way to the peak. Near the summit, she discovers a hidden,
innermost
cave. It is here she must face and slay the proverbial dragon. If she succeeds,
she receives a
great gift of gold, wisdom, and learning. If she fails, the journey is over at
great loss to
herself and humanity. With triumph, comes the moment of illumination, as
she stands on
the top of the world with great mysteries of the universe revealed.
And yet, the Hero’s
Journey does not end on top of the mountain.
There is a second half to
the story we often forget.
It’s called the Long Walk
Home. When the hero must make her way back down the
mountain—into the valley
where the river flows and things grow. She must navigate her
way back to the village.
Of course, she comes sprinting down the mountain, eager to
share her newfound wisdom
with the world. She can already imagine a hero’s welcome—
trumpets blaring,
ticker-tape parade, a party in the streets…
And yet, when she finally
makes her way home…
Nobody is standing at the
gates to welcome her back. Nobody sent out the memo for
the ticker-tape parade.
Nobody brought the piñata and margaritas. It seems like folks
didn’t even care to notice
she was gone. They’re certainly not interested in listening to
what she has to say now.
Her attempts to connect with others are returned with blank
stares of confusion and
disbelief.
The Long Walk Home is the
most heartbreaking part of many a Hero’s Journey. Every
visionary comes down the
mountain with great gifts to serve humanity. Yet a painful
experience of social
rejection and disconnection usually follows. The hero simply
seeks a triumphant return
home. If she could only bottle the magic, others could drink
from the well.“
My thoughts
As Seth Godin world known marketing guru
said “great stories agree with our world view” I believe that Believe Me is also a
great story and made me say "this is exactly what I believe in ". Story plays
a huge role in my life and was my teacher, guide, therapist, friend etc…
Story plays a huge role in my life and was my teacher, guide, therapist, friend etc… I grew up with stories and I live telling stories. And story telling is a powerful tool in my life it helps me to connect with strangers.
I live in a continent other than my own. I speak more than five languages. I listen to cultures I let stories stream in me and I love buying stories. I have already recommended the book to friends. And yes the story matters therefor every manager should feel that s/he is part of the big story and advocate that.
Every innovator need to have the story and the STORY must be shaped in accordance with the time and generation we live in.