Just how powerful is a story?  Jim Loehr addresses that question in his book, The Power of Story:  Rewrite Your Destiny in Business and Life.  Loehr thinks about stories the way psychologists do:  as governering narratives that you tell about yourself, your life, your relationships, and that come to have a self-fulfilling aspect to them.  If you believe that you are always fated to screw up intimate relationships, for example, you will do so because you believe it.  Or, if you believe that you will be the next Bill Gates…..maybe you will. 

I don't dispute that what we believe about ourselves often 'comes true' if only because that belief is based on past experience.  But I think a more interesting way to think about stories — for both individuals and companies — is to look at how they frame your experiences and thus your life.

If you tell yourself you're on a quest to build the best new little company since Microsoft, for example, then every roadblock you encounter along the way is an obstacle to overcome on your path to the goal.  You'll get past those roadblock with ease because you know the story — that's what heroes do, they get past roadblock and win through to the goal in the end.  That's a familiar narrative. 

The trick is to psych yourself (and your employees and colleagues) into believing this group hallucination long enough for it to become true.  History is littered with folks who struggled too long, lost hope, and gave up.  In addition to a good story, you need stick-to-it-iveness. 

Yes, stories are important.  They shape how we think about ourselves, our lives, and our work.  But character is also important, and without that the greatest stories in the world will never be lived to be told.