Businesses change, often while we’re so busy running them that we barely notice it happening. Customers come along. Teams grow. New opportunities appear. New products and services emerge. What we do – and what we’re known for – evolves. But sometimes the story we tell about the business gets left behind.
I spent many years in broadcasting and journalism, and there are questions from that world I still comeback to:
What’s the story? What’s the line – the thing we really want to say? Who is the audience?
When you’re inside a business, these can be surprisingly difficult to answer. And that matters, because your business story has a job to do. Your story needs to help customers understand why they should choose you. Help great people see why they should work with you. Help partners and funders see the opportunity. And help your team understand where you’re going. Maybe it takes five minutes to explain what you do when it should take 30 seconds. Your team tells slightly different versions of the story. Or the words you’ve been using for years just don’t quite fit anymore.
“Stories Drive Action.” That’s our mantra at StrategyStory. It’s what we believe.
Stories Drive Action.
Kate Hooper, founder of Strategy Story
And it’s why I developed SPA™: Simplify. Personify. Amplify. A thinking framework for leadership communications and storytelling.
Simplify: What are we actually trying to say, and what are we trying to achieve?
Personify: Who needs to hear it, and what will make it matter to them?
Amplify: Where does the story need to work, and what do we want it to do when it gets there?
Simple questions. But when you’re in the middle of running a business, how often do you give yourself the space and time to really work through the answers?
Sometimes you need to get out from behind your desk to see your business clearly.
And that’s the idea behind our StrategyStory SPA™ Morning in Inverness on Thursday, 24 September.
We’re opening our office to a very small group of founders and managers for four focused hours away from the day-to-day.
You’ll work on your own business, using SPA™ to look at it from a different angle and get your business story sorted. There’ll be good conversation around the table, and you’ll takeaway learnings and a process that will last you for years to come. (And a yummy brunch, obviously.)
StrategyStory SPA™ Morning
Thursday 24 September 2026
9 am – 1 pm
StrategyStory, Wasps Creative Academy, Inverness
£245 + VAT · TWO places left
If your business has moved on but its story hasn’t quite caught up, come and join us.It could be the best four hours you’ve spent on your business in a long time.
Stories Drive Action!
Kate
