T. Scott Gross

Somewhere on the way to becoming known as an expert in customer service, and just past my intention to achieve guru status in the field of branding, I must have taken an unexpected turn. The new un-planned, un-charted road took me to a place in my life where I am known not as a service guy or a marketing guy. Instead I turned out to be the story-telling guy.

That shouldn’t have been a surprise. After all, I was raised on stories.

In church I heard stories from the Bible. I read stories in books and watched in black and white as Disney told the stories of the Hardy Boys. We sang musical stories in four part harmony while riding in a 1951 Studebaker that burned more oil than gas… “I looked over Jordan and what did I see? A band of angels coming after me.”

For me, the best stories were told by my grandmother. We would snuggle close in a wooden porch swing and watch the freight trains lumbering out of the Latonia railroad yard. On a cool night we could hear the banging of rusted metal as the yard rats coasted individual cars over the ‘hump’ and joined them with a newly formed train headed to God only knew where.

Gran would begin every story with, “There once was a little boy with big, blue eyes.” And every time I would steel myself for adventure because I knew the story was going to be about me!

The thing about stories is that they so often change with the telling. We expect one ending and sometimes get another. And that’s good. Sometimes.

When the grandkids were lap-size, we used the couch in the den for storytelling. Often, but not always, I would ask the kids what kind of ending they wanted. Big Guy usually said, “Pops, I want no happiness.” His no happiness really meant he wanted a scary ending. The Princess wanted a happy ending… always.

When you are telling the story, you can decide up front what the ending will be. Unfortunately, we don’t live in fairy tales.

Look for a moment at your story. Is it unfolding the way you wanted it to unfold? Have you thought about the ending? Chances are the story you are living today is not what you thought it would be. And here is where people get lost. Their story takes a twist and the hero, you, misses the turn.

To say that 2009 is a tough year for most is an understatement. In my case the industry that has fed us so well and kept us fat, dumb, and happy has all but disappeared. That may be the circumstance for you. What do you do?

You can insist that the story you imagined from the beginning is the only story for you. Or, you can go with the story as it unfolds in a new direction, enjoy meeting new characters, and be surprised at the ending. The part of the story that has already been told isn’t wasted. It serves as a background and foundation for the story yet to come.

We’ve decided that we need to re-think our story, take a fresh look at how we do business, and offer new, innovative products and new ways for sharing our content. Now might be a good time for you to do the same. Take a look at where you think your story is headed and consider how the story already told might influence the story to come. Your story may have taken an unexpected twist that doesn’t doom you to a “no happiness ending.” Be flexible, enjoy the changing scenery, and I predict that you will live happily ever after.

The End

Moral of the story: Adversity does not build character. Adversity reveals character.

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