What story are your decisions telling?

Every business tells a story.  Not just through what it says, but through what it does.  Through the decisions it makes.  The trade-offs it avoids.  And the behaviours it repeats.

Whether you like it or not, a story is forming - and evolving - all the time.  And that story doesn’t just live in the obvious places.

When leaders worry about ‘our business story’, attention often turns to communications:

·       messaging

·       positioning

·       narrative decks

·       brand refreshes

·       the website homepage

All important. But rarely where the story is ‘felt’.

Because the story people believe, is not created by language alone.
It’s created by patterns.  Patterns in what gets prioritised, tolerated, rewarded, delayed, or quietly ignored.

That’s why every business already has a story - even if it’s never been written down.

Story is crafty.

It doesn’t wait for clarity, leadership alignment, or a moment when ‘things calm down’.
People inside and outside the organisation start joining the dots themselves.

And over time, a story takes shape.  One that feels true because it’s grounded in behaviour.
Not just what’s written on the website.

Because behaviour doesn’t appear by accident.  It is shaped, reinforced and normalised over time.

And that is a powerful opportunity.  Because it means story isn’t something leaders need to hand over or outsource.  It is something they already influence, every day.

Business leaders are powerful storytellers (whether they like it or not).

Not just in town halls or strategy decks, but through:

-      what they choose to focus on

-      what they don’t challenge

-      how tensions are resolved (or not)

-      which decisions are easy, and which get endlessly postponed

That’s why story can’t be fixed by better words alone.  It can only be shaped through better attention.

A couple of questions worth sitting with.

Instead of asking:
‘Is our story clear?’

A more revealing question is:
‘What story are our decisions currently telling?’

Because those answers are already forming.

The most coherent stories aren’t crafted - they’re lived, deliberately, over time.
And that responsibility sits firmly with leadership.