xi This is not an introduction Introductions are like the warm-up acts that take the stage before the bands you’ve paid to see. Or the conference speaker who loses the goodwill of the audience by opening with, “How are we doing tonight? I want you to say, ‘Great’ like you mean it! On the count of three now, how are we doing tonight?” If you’re like many readers, you skip introductions. On several occa- sions we’ve gone back and read introductions and thought, “This is actually pretty good. They should have put this somewhere in the book where more people would actually read it.” Works of fiction don’t bother with introduc- tions. They get right to the story. We’ll try to do the same by getting to the point: we have several things to express in this book that can help you and your business. Though each chapter contains something of value, not every chapter will be of equal value to you and your situation. We encourage you to roam around. Each chapter is quick and memorable and concludes with a key point. The main points we want to make are packaged in what we call “micro-stories” or aphorisms that are entertaining and, therefore, easier to remember and retell. Think of this book as a buffet with stations that you can sample, skip, and return to later. This way you can find the pieces of wisdom that will be the most helpful to solving the challenges you face at this moment. We’ve distilled the biggest lessons we’ve learned while working at branding and advertising firms in Chicago, Detroit, Zurich, Paris, Boston, and now Denver, where Narrator Group is headquartered. These lessons have helped transform the businesses and lives of our clients. We have long wanted to share these principles with a larger audience, so we decided to write this book. This is a new kind of business book that bridges the gap between man- agement and marketing books because it addresses two issues that are fundamental to both facets of business: 1) how to motivate employees and
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