The way we view ourselves often starts with what I’ll call a Narrator of Origin—the first voices that shaped our perception of ourselves. This might be parents, teachers, early mentors, or cultural expectations. These foundational voices provide the scripts that we either adopt and subconsciously perpetuate or vehemently reject. However, even in rejecting them, we often spend our energy proving them wrong rather than becoming our authentic selves, which is still a form of subconscious control.

By extension, the unexplored self-narrative inevitably bleeds into the businesses and brands we build. Our co-founders, employees, partners, and customers become actors in a story that is being auto-narrated by our internalized beliefs. When left unexamined, these narratives dictate our leadership style, hiring decisions, company culture, and even how we approach innovation and risk.

The stories we tell about ourselves are powerful—not just in how they shape our past, but in how they define our future. Too often, we continue living out narratives that no longer fit, unconsciously replaying outdated scripts because they once made sense, even when they now hold us back.

But storytelling is iterative. You are not bound to a single version of your story.

When you consciously evolve your narrative—when you take ownership of how you frame your journey—you reclaim your agency. You shift from reacting to old expectations to actively shaping what comes next.

The power of storytelling isn’t just in telling the world who you are—it’s in realizing that you get to decide. You are the narrator, the editor, and the author of what comes next. The question is:

We are all walking, living stories. And whether we realize it or not, the stories that shaped us—the ones we absorbed from our childhood, the ones we internalized in school, the ones that formed during our hardest and most defining moments—get woven into the DNA of the businesses we build.

For entrepreneurs, this isn’t just a poetic notion. Many of us don’t launch companies because of spreadsheets and market gaps. We build to solve problems we’ve experienced firsthand. We create because something in our past—something personal—compels us to fix, change, or disrupt.

We often think of storytelling as something we craft—but in reality, it’s something we can’t escape. It’s the one human instinct that transcends geography, language, technology, and even time itself.

What this proves is that storytelling isn’t just a cultural artifact—it’s a fundamental human need. We saw it in the caves of prehistoric times, in the folktales of the Gullah people, in the cinema of Soviet filmmakers, and in the vertical videos of a generation trapped inside their homes. This isn’t coincidence. It’s survival.

Storytelling has been a part of human history for millennia, shaping cultures, movements, and economies. But in today’s world of business and branding, your personal story isn’t just an anecdote—it’s an asset.

For entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders—especially those from historically underrepresented backgrounds—storytelling serves as both a survival skill and a competitive edge. It’s the bridge that connects ideas to investors, products to consumers, and leaders to movements. Your story isn’t just about where you’ve been—it’s the roadmap for where you’re going.

“People don’t buy products. They buy stories.”

I don’t know who first said it, but they deserve a raise.

Because it’s true.

Think about the last time you bought something—a book, a course, maybe even a ridiculously overpriced candle that “smells like a Scandinavian forest at dawn.” (Just me?) Chances are, it wasn’t just the product that pulled you in—it was the story around it.

The founder’s mission.
The promise of transformation.
The way it made you feel—like you weren’t just buying a thing, but joining a movement.

That, my friend, is the power of storytelling. And it’s the one thing separating brands that get noticed from the ones that get ignored.