In this uncertain business climate, how can companies sharpen their competitive edge while minimizing expenditures? The answer comes through in-depth exploration of the simplest things, natural resources within a corporation that can inspire a workforce to transform a company.

Today, people in companies tell stories every day - unlocking the value of those stories, building a common culture, motivating teams around desired actions and towards desired objectives. This is all attainable, with the power of narrative fully realized.

Narrative is an innate ability of human beings, and the stories we tell ourselves create the cultures we live in. The study and understanding of narrative is therefore more than just a way to pass the time on a dark and stormy night. It is a means to understand the strengths and weaknesses in our cultural interactions, ideas, products and services.

Successful stories are more memorable and influential than memos, the latest gizmo power point presentation, or the boss's messages demanding compliance to company policies. Narratives are the most powerful form of communication simply because they make people feel as well as think about intended issues. Successful narratives share four basic elements: Passion, Hero, Action, and Transformation.

Every successful story must have passion, the emotion that is wrapped around our narrative's central fact. Passion is the fire that draws an audience's attention. The primary job of a successful story is to make the audience pay attention to the message by making them care.

Recently, the founder of a boutique design firm in Los Angeles asked for my help. "Ben" is a charismatic leader, imbued with tremendous passion for his business. The problem was that no one on his staff could communicate to clients nearly as well. This over reliance on Ben's narrative skills created disequilibrium for the company. Potential and old clients alike demanded that only Ben talk to them. Ben felt flattered at first, but this situation soon turned into a serious case of burnout for him. His highly paid and competent staff felt demoralized.

After initial investigation it was clear that the staff communicated to clients in solely dry and technical terms. Only Ben was telling stories. Once this lack of narrative skill was defined; I encouraged his senior staff to address client problems as stories rather than a laundry list of facts. This approach increased client confidence by making them feel unique. Design storytelling gave staff and client's alike the ability to see the big picture.

All the passion in the world doesn't do any good unless there is someplace to put it. That is where the hero comes in. The job of the hero is to ground the story and create the territory the story will cover. I don't necessarily mean Superman or Sheena of the Jungle, but the character or voice in the story that guides the audience to a clear point of view.

Ronald Reagan was a great storyteller. He knew the importance of heroes in creating a political consensus. He understood that with the right hero, people would see even dry and technical facts from a personal point of view. During his State of the Union address, when he got to a point that might be abstract or difficult, he would point up to the Congressional Gallery and there, poised and waiting was an "American Hero" who personalized the point Reagan was trying to make. Reagan controlled the national debate by using heroes to define his political territory.

The hero needs to take actions, which confront problems or challenges. In a good story these problems are also concerns of the audience. Without a good challenge or even a good enemy the story appears like a public relations puff piece. Lockheed's "Skunk Works" is one of the world's premier design firms. It has developed many of the finest US military aircraft over the past 60 years. Its slogan is, "It takes a great enemy to make a great airplane."

What Skunk Works understands is that in a good corporate story exposing struggle and difficulties is far from destructive. Dealing with a tough problem creates an atmosphere, which makes the story much more interesting and credible. It is a fact of existence that people are always facing some sort of problem in life. Powerful obstacles in the narrative make it ring true. Problems help the audience identify more deeply with the story.

Transformation is the natural result of a well-told story. Our heroes take actions to overcome their problems, and these actions cause changes to both themselves and their world. Real transformation is difficult to accomplish and doesn't happen easily. Sacrifice and repeated effort is demanded for the problem to be overcome. Somehow audiences sense how difficult it is to create real change. They feel satisfied when they see the hero emerge from the fires of hell a changed and better human being.

In 1996 Unilever was a tradition bound multinational corporation. A lack of creative leadership coupled with production inefficiencies was rotting the company from the inside out. Newly appointed to head up the food division, Tex Gunning, with the help of a small band of radical leaders went through profound emotional and spiritual change in preparation for changing the company. Gunning was a master of the narrative. He combined information about business issues with his own background, beliefs, aspirations, and vulnerabilities into stories which catalyzed wide scale positive change at Unilever. These transformative narratives spread through out the company energizing brands, launching new products and exciting customers. By responding to the customer story Unilever began a successful campaign to sell soap to an untapped audience - the 600 million poor villagers in India. Dysentery was ravaging these children but parents could not afford to buy a box of soap. Unilever realized that parents could afford to buy their product when it was packaged in much smaller parcels. The happy ending to this story was that village dysentery decreased and the company gained a huge new market. Today the company is noted for being a highly profitable innovator and a model corporate citizen.

As in Unilever's case, successful stories are always larger than the people who create them. Audiences have a need to feel a part of something bigger than themselves. People want to be challenged to pursue their deepest aspirations like good health, freedom and creativity. They cherish stories that inspire them to accomplish great things. Successful stories act like a moral compass pointing the way to more rewarding and profound experience. As Joseph Campbell has said, "When we stop thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness."