Hi – this is Julie Masters and you’re listening to The Next Right Thing – a mini-series from The Inside Influence Team. Designed to provide some actionable certainty in uncertain times. Specifically – and the situation we’re all facing right now – the COVID-19 pandemic.
The idea behind this series is to go out to some of the most popular guests from past episodes of Inside Influence – and ask them one question: ‘What are the most important things you are focusing on right now (tools, ideas, strategies) – or advising your clients to focus on – that you know for sure work in uncertain times?’
The intention being that somewhere in there, from these incredible minds, you might be able to find inspiration for your next right thing – a point of certainty amidst the uncertainty.
In this episode I speak with… Ty Montague – Founder at co:collective and author of: ‘True Story: How to Combine Story and Action to Transform Your Business’. Using his own words Ty considers himself a traditional advertising ‘refugee’ – having decided to pivot (recognise that work from any conversations recently?) his entire career when he noticed – and couldn’t explain why – Starbucks could be on every corner – yet not spend a single dollar on traditional advertising.
Ty took that one question and went on to build a philosophy, a methodology, a company and a global reputation on the answer. All based around one premise – if you want to stand out, build trust and engage your target market – particularly in when there is no business as usual to be found. Then you need to shift from Story Telling. To Story Doing.
In this conversation we talk about… Pivoting the Quest – knowing when to double down on your messaging and when to change direction. The importance and process of defining a few transformative actions to focus on in uncertainty. And why these two questions should be on Post It notes above your desk right now: “When this crisis is over what story do I want people to tell about me (or us)?” And “What story do I want to tell about myself?”
What I want you to reflect on here… Those that are doing it well right now – are not necessarily changing direction – but finding ways to take their existing mission – or Quest – and expanding it. To include community, connection and a wider purpose for existing.
If you want to dig even further into Ty’s insanely smart mind and Story Doing as a concept… you can also hunt down our previous conversation – which I believe is episode No. 69. You can also find his book on Amazon – highly recommended.
So… other than staying well and looking after each other – I hope somewhere in here you find the fuel you need for your next right thing.
This series very much a ‘by the seat of your pants’ kind of thing… the intention is to keep these short – as least for now we’re going to release as we record. We’ll probably also leave in a lot of the imperfections we usually edit out.
