[MUSIC] Storytelling is a necessity for leadership. How will you inspire others to be part of your vision if you can't communicate it? The CEO of LinkedIn, the professional networking site, says that his role requires an awareness of how a vision is being communicated. Lackluster communication isn't inspiring, so it is important that we think about communication as storytelling. Maya Angelou, the great author, speaks to us about why stories resonate when she remarked, people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. A great leader has to ensure that there is a strategy that everyone in the organization understands and participates in. That strategy must include growth to move forward. In these rapidly changing times, growth and development become vital. Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon, spoke of what's dangerous is not to evolve, and many times when I asked students the difference between management and leadership, attributes overlap. But most will say leaders must have a vision and thoughtfulness about the future. That's an overly simplistic way to think about the difference between the two since no one is going to follow a transport leader who can't operate well today. And both roles of manager and leader need to nurture the best talent. But it is true that leaders need to articulate a vision based on objectives and strategy that can be a rallying point for all. We use the word innovation in many ways and apply it loosely. I think we can all agree innovation may represent something new but growth can occur by doing what we currently do while also widening the funnel of our audience. We could go into a new region, a geography, or to a new audience. At Northwestern, we think all growth is audience centric, as it involves new applications, ideas, processes, possibilities. So providing value to a new audience is still an innovation, and by necessity, innovative. Thinking of a new revenue model can be innovative. Newspapers, for example, search for new revenue models because old fashioned advertising is declining. A process can be innovative. You might still need to have a will drawn up in the case of death, but you may not need to go to a lawyer's office. You might be able to just download a template off the Internet. Customer service can be innovative. I called an airline recently and instead of making me hang on for 25 minutes for the next live operator, they automatically took note of the number and told me precisely how many minutes later they would call me. Customer engagement and knowledge may be innovative. Recently a student of mine looked through a social media remarks about a brand and realized that customers were using the brand for an entirely different purpose than it was originally intended. So the company listened and widened its marketing to include the new concept. Of course, for many innovations represent new products or new design that differ from the host product. Let's explore a new product design and how that brings us to the role of storytelling. Storytelling here begins with a vision and how to articulate it. Then the story needs to galvanize employees to believe in the innovation and work in a way so that all own the vision. Then the story needs to be told to investors and other stakeholders. And of course, the story needs to be showcased to the audience. The audience for the new product may be the same as for the original product. Perhaps we created a new product to appeal to the same audience. Or perhaps we created a slightly altered product to appeal to a different audience. Each of those audiences need a story on why the product service process are appealing. For many, food for pets was an item to be bought if it wasn't leftovers from people eating. It was not that distinguished. But now pet food has taken on new stature. And there are many differentiated in research foods, from appropriate ones for young puppies, to aging dogs, from organic and healthy alternatives. These new items weren't just dreamt up. They originated from talking to customers, learning their insights and to how they think about their pets, then doing research to find products that match the insights. But the leaders of the pet companies would have to ensure that all constituencies understood the power of the story behind the consumer insights and the research. [MUSIC]
