**Harry Potter spoiler ahead**

The gist of the Harry Potter series is “Baby boy gets attacked by evil wizard. He survives. As he grows up, it becomes obvious he is on a collision path with the evil wizard. Eventually, they do battle and the boy kills the evil wizard."

Why did J.K. Rowling need 4100 pages across 7 books to tell that story? It’s fairly straightforward, right? Well, of course not.

We didn’t read/watch that story to get to the ending. We did so because we were able to meet unimaginable characters and to go to fantastical places. We were able to live out our own fantasies in the characters and explore worlds that don’t exist in the “real” world.

We engaged with it because we felt a connection to it, because it made us feel something.

Storytelling is important. But not just in fantasy books and movies. It’s important in our everyday interactions… when we talk about what we care about… what we work on… and how that ties back to the people and organizations we choose to work with.

Mental exercise: which of the following two companies would you rather associate with:

A) Our mission is to be a $10M company in 2 years; or

B) Our mission is to build a strong and stable company by helping people care for aging family members through education, financial planning, and technology.

Option A is an outcome, it’s an ending. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, Option B is a story about how to get there.

When we start initiatives and pull the people who are impacted by those initiatives (the stakeholders) into those conversations, (you are pulling them in, right?) we need to make sure to hear their stories. In some case, we need to help them find and tell their stories.

It’s through these stories that we understand who they are, what’s important to them, and why they do what they do. Hearing their stories helps us to understand and tell our own stories better too. It’s true whether you are implementing a new CRM system or organizing a charity fundraiser or just planning a dinner party.

As we engage in understanding the impact of technology and AI and remoteness, embracing stories (our own and others) is a very human way to stayed connected and be better.

After all, I rather liked Hermione and Ron’s stories too… would hate to see them left out.