Story Power!
(Manufacturing Stories.)
(Sometimes from Whole Cloth.)

Those of you interested—as I am—in “the power of the story,” may find compelling this description of Churchill trying to keep British morale up during the long years in which the British Army was in no shape to return to Europe, and the Americans weren’t willing to pull the trigger either.

Per premier Churchillian historian Max Hastings (Financial Times, 0904.09):

“But where to fight [after successes in the Battle of Britain had staved off imminent danger to survival], given that the British Army was incapable of engaging the Wehrmacht in Europe? Churchill’s policy between 1940 and 1944 was dominated by a belief in the importance of military theater. He perceived that there must be action, even if not always useful; there must be successes, even if overstated or even imagined; there must be glory, even if undeserved.”

[Hastings also quotes Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee: “Churchill was always looking around for ‘finest hours,’ and if one was not immediately available, his impulse was to manufacture one.”]

Talk about “story power” when the stakes are high!!

In your and my more mundane world:

Have you worked-like-a-demon on your story?

Are you clear about your story (you, your service on offer)?

Is your story Clear & Powerful & Compelling & Exciting & Dynamic?

Tom Peters posted this on September 10, 2009, in Strategies.