The apple. The snake. The garden. The nudity. The expulsion. The shame.
Genesis has all the standard ingredients of a compelling origin story: fallible characters, telling details, sensual elements, plot twists, a clear moral. The wrath of God, for good measure.
Now, I’m guessing Almighty condemnation probably wasn’t part of the beginning of your company. (If it was, great! Use it.) Pain and suffering are pretty much baked into beginnings. If you’ve ever given birth you know exactly what I mean. And that’s why they’re so powerful.
Great stories are about struggle and change.
Origin stories are when you hit rewind on all of your successes and pull back the curtain on just how you got there – and every failure in between.
Your brand is a story, too.
And like Genesis or the crazy labour story of your firstborn or every novel, film or epic brand campaign ever made, there’s a sprinkling of drama. Sometimes, it’s a downright downpour.
Your drama may not be big and loud (“Hey Adam and Eve, get the hell out of my garden.”) But, it may be the opportunity to reveal a point in your history that really shook things up. This is where you highlight how things were, the problems you identified and the plot points that followed to execute the success you have now.
It doesn’t need to be epic.
It may be a quieter, more introspective drama. A cri de cœur. An ethical dilemma. A discomfort with the status quo.
Either way, it’s an opportunity to illustrate that you are a problem-solver. There’s a theory in the product development sphere that every product, every business, is solving a problem for the user.
Sharing the tension or drama that set the stage for the company or brand you built underscores your ability to fix things or fill gaps for your customers.
Your origin story is the foundation of your organization.
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