Why Stories Are Important
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Humans long for meaning.
We long for it so deeply that we tell stories to ourselves to create it.
Stories of courage.
Stories of sorrow.
Stories of faith.
Stories of love.
One of the most profound stories we tell ourselves is how smart, how clever we are.
To create a longing in us for your message, you must tell us stories about ourselves.
Stories about how smart we are for discovering you.
Stories in which we are the hero.
Stories in which we transcend sorrow.
Stories of the strength of our faith.
Stories of the depth of our love.
In the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
If you want to motivate us,
Do not ask us to build the boat,
Teach us to long for the sea.
Hi, I’m Keith Monaghan.
I’ve created and managed e-mail marketing campaigns to millions of subscribers for companies like NBC Television and Lucasfilm (yep, the Star Wars people).
My work as a Market Researcher has helped creative teams with projects for Nike, The CW Network, Upworthy, THX, Specialized Bicycles, Umpqua Bank, and other companies you may have heard of (and many you probably haven’t.) You can learn more abut me and my work here.