True Storytelling - Plot : You must create stories with a clear plot creating direction and help people prioritize
Principle 3 “You must create stories with a clear plot, creating direction and helping people prioritze”* is about creating a draft for at plot together with the people you work with or to be aware that you create a plot which has room for other stories and lives.
In the world of Entrepreneurship, being innovative, being creative – it is crucial to have a progressing mindset and a mindset of complete acceptance of what has happened and a clear plan on how to move forward.
It is a major strength to be able to go in and say and selfcorrect the narrative. Accept the story and say: I have learned from this. From now on I will do this.
I had a case with a young team of Healthcare Entrepreneurs. They had received Funding for their wonderful project and one of the Major contributors for the Funding had a meeting with them. They told me they came in to this enormous corporate entity and felt so minor. They were presented with a contract, they didn’t understand and when they addressed errors in the contract, they were told – oh, yes this is something we will look into. They had come into the meeting, so eager, so exited – and felt, when they came out that they were just worth nothing but just Students with an idea.
I helped them creating a story in their mind. A story about 3 students that based on their heart, head and experience had created something that was so valuable that companies paid to Fund their project and be a part of it, so that they could ride on their success. I told them that in a meeting like this, they should show that they were in control. They should have a clear direction, when they went into the meeting.
I taught them that prior to a meeting with any partner or relation. You need to have a clear agenda and objective of the meeting. If a contract should be presented, then ask for a pre-read of the contract, so you can have a lawyer looking it through and guide you.
The next time I saw the 3 students, they had become from 3 students with an idea to 3 Healthcare Entrepreneurs partners and patientorganisations were contacting just to collaborate. In their mindset, they were no longer unexperienced, poor me – but independent young men that had carried their dreams all the way to reality.
A wise man once said, the situation represents itself to the person being prepared and this is just what is happening, when you are prepared things will occur.
The plot inside your mind is in my opinion the most important plot you can create. When you have the focused mindset and a clear plot in you mind, you will naturally find direction.
When I started my business, the first time. Many years ago I also wanted to be a marketing consultant. At that point I did not have a clear mindset and all kind of industries came to me to get help. From clothing shops, to juice manufacturers, to garden decoration manufacturer, to artists – you name it, all industries came. I was so surprised how fast they came but something inside me didn’t feel right. No matter how much I tried I simply couldn’t find the drive, the passion and deep, deep down I knew why I was just too afraid to admit to myself. It was because none of the projects had anything to do with Healthcare, which was where my passion lived. My old colleagues and friends said but you have to do Healthcare. You have to do MedTech. But I was afraid. Even though this was the Industry I had gained all my experience from I was convinced that I couldn’t support with my knowledge and experience. Simply I wasn’t good enough.
Nothing could have been further from the Truth. Fate pushed me into that Direction.
When my Dad became very ill, he volunteered for a Clinical Study for a company. The 3 months he was on the study, we got him back, in a way that we had not seen for years. I felt almost like I was part of the movie with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, the Awakening.
Sadly he was too ill and he passed away. I wished to write to that company and say Thank you to them for giving me back my Dad for 3 months and that I wanted to work for them 3 months for free but I never did. 1 month after his passing, I suddenly saw a post on LinkedIn, a company was looking for an experienced Healthcare Consultant. I scanned it through and could see that it had all the things that I was looking for and that I could support the function with all the experience I had gained in the industry. I contacted them and got an interview at the hiring company immediately. When they revealed for me, what the company was that I should work for, I felt like I was in the Twillight Zone. It was the company that had initiated the clinical study, my Dad had participated in.
I went there as a consultant and was quickly hired in as a Full time employee. Just what I needed after my Dad’s passing.
From there on I never looked back and I promised myself never to leave the Healthcare Industry again. Therefore when I decided to become independent once more, it was so easy for me to have the plot ready in my mindset and navigate from my inner desires. So each time a company approached me with a project outside the Healthcare Industry I could with ease say no thank you.
Something happens within you, when you work with this energy. People tend to call it the zone. You are just in flow and projects become easy.
The Healthcare Entrepreneurs tell about situations that occur that you can almost call miracles and they happen out of the blue.
The more clear you can be in your plot, the faster, the flow, the more guidance and direction you will get to your dreams to become your reality.
*The 7 principles are from the book True Storytelling, Seven Principles For An Ethical and Sustainable Change-Management Strategy by Jens Larsen, David M. Boje and Lena Bruun.
Anne-Marie Hall became a certified Trainer by the True Storytelling Institute in February 2021.
Amazing Hall helps Healthcare Entrepreneurs and Executives through a mixture of storytelling and strategic marketing guidance to navigate in their journey
