Let me tell you a story about three founders, all seemingly struggling in very different ways.

There is a remarkable kinship in their pain. Even though their businesses are in completely different stages of development, they’re all struggling with the same thing. And it’s actually remarkably simple.

Founder Number One

I’ve known this founder ever since he launched his business about twenty years ago. When he launched, he had a fire in his belly.

Now, he drives to work, sits in his car, and takes calls for hours from his driver’s seat rather than go inside his own building. He just can’t bring himself to walk in. The passion has fizzled out.

Founder Number Two

This founder has the opposite problem—she can’t leave her office. She can’t take a vacation. She has to be in every business meeting, every client pitch, and every conversation for fear her team will make a wrong decision or say the wrong thing.

She worries that if she leaves, even for a week-long vacation, the business will look drastically different than the one she left.

Founder Number Three

Finally, we’ve got a business owner who has cycled through talent: hiring, losing, (and, worse) firing multiple managers and leaders. Those folks just didn’t “get it.”

By many measures, the business was doing great, but these departures were cutting into the bottom line. They were restraining what could have been explosive growth for the business.

They all have a story problem.

Founders, by their very nature, are visionaries. They see something no one else sees. Some people call it white space, some call it impact. What that means is that they all have a unique vision of the world, and the drive to make that vision reality.

The struggle is sharing that vision with others in a way that makes it memorable and actionable. They need a meaningful story.

Founder Number One

Our car-sitting leader is feeling lost. He’s lost the connection to the business he created two decades ago. He doesn’t recognize the company anymore. He no longer knows what it’s all for. The business and his industry has evolved and he’s not gone back to revisit and re-articulate for himself, his team, and all of his stakeholders the reason behind it all.

As a result, he’s missing the very thing that will move his company forward. Even more importantly, he’s missing the story that’ll get him out of bed, out of the car, and excited to go back into the office.

Founder Number Two

Our office-bound leader can’t leave because the vision for the business only exists in her head. Her team doesn’t have a solid understanding of the world she wants to create—and how their business is uniquely positioned to create it.

Everyone’s different answers to the same foundational questions is creating confusion. Not only that, it’s making team members work at cross-purposes, all on top of an overworked founder who can’t and won’t delegate decision-making.

Founder Number Three

Our revolving-door founder has a classic problem: hiring people who look and sound like him and then assuming they also think as he does.

This might work for first hires, but as the business grows, the founder naturally moves further away from the hiring process. Because the first hires were expected to learn via intuition and proximity to the founder, the larger the team got, the less effective hiring became. The story was unarticulated, which led to disjointed decision-making in the hiring process.

Founders, if you’re reading this, I’m talking to you:

Invest time and resources to articulate your vision.

And do it in the form of a meaningful story. 

A meaningful story is one everyone can rally behind.

It keeps the fire in your belly lit, speeds up decision-making across the entire team, and attracts and retains top talent. A meaningful story enables agility and ensures your business can run and grow successfully, whether you’re in the room or not. 

If your story doesn’t do all of this, ask yourself: is your story meaningful enough?