Storytelling and the 3 Universal Currencies
In 2005, Josh Kaufman published The Personal MBA which included a unique look at how we tell ourselves and others stories around value.
Starting in youth, we're taught by our leaders (parents, siblings, teachers), communities, societies, and media to perceive value primarily in terms of finance. The value of a product or service is typically first measured by its cost, and almost always in relation to assessed worth in our personal or professional lives.
But while Dollars, Euros, Pounds, and Drachmas are necessary realities for positive human outcomes, the true story of our personal currency goes far deeper, with far greater impact on our day-to-day survival. As Kaufman points out, we actually negotiate three life currencies in every engagement, interaction, or decision: Our Resources, our Time, and our Knowledge.
Resources, Time, Knowledge
Resources are what we choose to buy, what we agree pay for it, and why we feel it's worth the expense and effort. Time is what we offer in order to focus on that effort, and its perceived value in comparison to what we pay or give up to gain a thing or experience. Knowledge is what we prioritize over other endeavors in order to improve or alter our lives in some positive or meaningful way.
Each of these three life currencies can then be traded for more or less of the other two. Resources are physical; if I want to buy furniture, I offer money in exchange. Time is how I trade my hours and efforts for Resources as an employee. In reverse, I can trade my Resources for Time, paying others in exchange for their work. Knowledge is gained by committing Time or Resources to one thing, idea, or task over another because I believe it's worth the tradeoff.
Viewed through these three lenses, our comprehensive life currency is directly connected to meaningful #CorporateStorytelling.
Earning Currency Investment
When we stand in front of other people in an endeavor to communicate, convince, or lead, we're asking our audience to invest their three life currencies in us. As speakers, team leaders, or executives, we get on stage or in front of the camera expecting commitment of people's Resources, Time, and Knowledge. It's our responsibility to earn all three.
Typically, a presentation evolves and revolves around sharing enough information to get someone to buy something from us – a product, capability, or solution. We hope they will hear our story and commit their Resources to a fiscal investment. If that story is confusing, rambling, impersonal, disconnected, or strictly informational, it fails to earn their first currency. Without structure or clear value, there's nothing worth buying into.
Structure & Promise
Our structure (or lack of it) is how we either respect or waste our audience's or team's Time. To honor their second currency, we have to maximize every minute they spend with us, justifying it with concrete value, purpose, and inspiration. If any aspect of our content is less than valuable, authentic, and meaningful, their Time currency is disrespected.
With each engagement we promise to offer Knowledge in exchange for Time and Resource investments. If the team we lead walks away from our meeting feeling enriched and empowered, everybody wins – the employee, the brand, and the leader. The growth in Knowledge was well worth those investments. If the audience we're speaking with leaves our interaction without new or useful Knowledge, their other life currency investments were wasted.
Bottom Line
Consider how you prioritize your own three life currencies, and those of the people you interact with. Are you focused solely on money at the expense of your time? Are you committing to projects or experiences that don't grow your knowledge currency instead of those that will? Is the communication and value you offer in business or at home genuinely worthy of others' vital Resources, Time, and Knowledge?
If you're not clear on the three life currency values you offer and how, your audience won't buy any of them.
