Narrative Assets

When Did We Forget How to Dance?

Watching Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dance is pure showmanship in motion. The talent, the moves, the passion for the art of dance are so intertwined that I get lost in the beauty of the moment. My mind wanders to a time when I too danced. As a child, every moment was filled with wonder. There was adventure and pure joy in the beauty of a butterfly, in riding my bike for the first time without help from anyone...and in the sound of the ice cream truck as it clanged down our street in the worst summer heat waves.

Back then, there were few troubles...and I grasped every moment that life had to offer me. In adulthood, we're thrown into roles and our days are met with increased responsibilities. While this is a natural part of growing up, why is that so many of us forget to dance once in a while?

In the "old school" business world, we were taught how to speak, act and dress for success. There was virtually no room for individual style. Times have changed a bit, and it seems the more unique you are - the better your chances of standing out. Yet still, so many are afraid to dance.

Just for today, laugh for no reason. Go break a rule or two. Don't be afraid to separate yourself from the pack. Watch an old Fred Astaire clip. Forget about what others may think. And don't forget to dance once in a while.

How many of you grew up in families who set expectations as to what you would do once you "grew up"? Do you ever feel as if you'd like to be a kid again? Under what circumstances? What do you do on days when you feel you need to dance again?

Writing The Story Of Success - Why Does It Take So Long To Finish The Book?

It's easy to find a multitude of books and articles that offer advice on how to achieve success. From this week's bestsellers - "The Secret" and Wayne Dyer's "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life", to the more traditional school of writing from Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins and Dale Carnegie, the self-help industry continues to be a multi-million dollar - perhaps even multi-billion dollar industry.

We all want to achieve success, yet for most it still seems elusive. How many of us wake up in our 40's, and wonder when we will finally start living our lives the way we envisioned it years ago? Why do some people achieve success in the material sense, yet others with equal talent don't?

If we could package "success" and sell it as a fail-proof formula, we would never have to work again. In our attempt to write the story of success into our lives, perhaps the secret lies in implementing the "little" successes (let's think of them as "sub plots") and working them into our lives at a deeper level. Perhaps we just need to see the little things, in our attempt to write the whole story. If the little things are taken care of, then maybe our chances of writing a positive outcome to our life story will increase substantially.

For example, if I look at what I did to achieve success in different areas of my life, the breakdown would look like this:

1) Success in selling...depended on...

• writing a plan and following it through
• knowing the product and the customer
• visualizing what I wanted from each sales call (I literally "pictured" a successful outcome)
• honing my people management skills
• hard work, persistence and belief in my product

2) Success in marketing/communications/project management...depended on...

• understanding my target market
• doing the research
• looking beyond the immediate task to see how each of my actions would affect varying stakeholders and touchpoints both inside and outside of the company
• empathy and an ability to get along with people
• ability to get "buy in" from stakeholders

3) Success in public speaking depended on...

• an ability and desire to understand and engage the audience
• research on the topic
• organizing the speech to be sure it was clear in the audience's mind
• practice, practice, practice

4) Success in my personal life depended on...

• a decision that I would just "be myself" and see what happens
• reaching out and maintaining friendships
• honesty
• a desire to share thoughts and ideas with others
• staying open to possibility

In trying to understand what it takes to be successful, another thought occurred to me. Maybe we're already successful. Perhaps what we take for granted, is considered an accomplishment of grand proportions by others.

What is success to you? Have you achieved your level of material success? If so, what tips can you share with others? What do we need to do to write the story of success into our lives?

From Hollywood to Bay Street: Success is Defined By The Story You Tell

Recently I purchased a book called "The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters." The book is different from others in its genre as it doesn't just look at what highly successful people DO, it digs deeper and looks at how they THINK.

What's striking about the content in the book is its similarities to challenges found in the business world. Whether you're an aspiring screenwriter, entrepreneur or corporate CEO, your challenges are quite similar. At some point in your career, success will depend on how well you can sell your story to people prepared to buy it.

David Brown, a Hollywood producer, says that "Nothing counts as much as the story, because it is the story that will attract the director, the actors, the studio, the money. The story is the thing." It's the same in business. If you're the CEO of a public company, you better have a compelling and engaging story to attract shareholders and investors. Money begets money, and one way to get it is to have a good story. People tend to gather around a good idea, so make your story compelling and find an innovative way to help solve someone else's problem. Make yourself indispensible and they won't be able to get enough of you.

From the glitz and glam of Hollywood to the driven financial core of Bay Street, success is defined by the story you tell. You have to have something of importance to say, something that's different and cuts through the clutter. You have to tell your story in an engaging way, and develop nerves of steel and dogged determination to be sure your story is heard by the right people, at the right time. Your career will be full of rejection, but successful people are able to take that criticism and constructively use it to get their own story heard.

So take your talent, and hone it through intense dedication to your craft. Feed your passion, and develop the skills needed to effectively present and sell ideas to people who can benefit most from those ideas.

Don't give up. The world is waiting for a good story. Let yours be the one everyone starts talking about and your world will open up in ways you never dreamed possible.

What other similarities do you see between the challenges faced by people in creative industries - and those faced by people who work in the corporate world? Do you think all successful people share the same traits? If so, which ones?