This is the ‘win with stories’ newsletter. Every week I send an email with a message wrapped in a short story. I also share one actionable tip and a recommendation for you to enhance your storytelling skills.
“If you are at a WeWork, you are being noticed yaar”, once said the marketing head of a company I consulted with. I found it extremely difficult to get work done in the open office design and carnival vibe of the place. But there is no denial that a WeWork office is extremely seductive.
But 2019 brought with it the downfall of the brand, and of its eccentric founder Adam Neuman. I haven’t stepped into a WeWork office in two years(or any office for that matter). But reports indicate that the brand is working its way back to respectability.
Where does WeWork come from?
I am fascinated with neurotic people, and if reports are anything to go by, Adam Neuman is a prime specimen. His charisma and communication took WeWork to its stratospeheric USD$ 47 billion valuation. And the overdose of narcissism brought the company down as well.
But ever wondered what is WeWork all about and where does the idea come from? Now, that’s another fascinating story.
If you look closely, every WeWork office is reminiscent of something. It has open designs, communal spaces, free snacks and drinks(read Beers). Adam Neuman also said this in an interview, “We have created a system where people are forced to help one another.”
I could never put a word to it, but WeWork defintely feels like a neo hippie commune. A place where community takes precedence over everything. In that sense, Adam was right when he called WeWork an offline social network.
I decided to dig deeper. I realised that WeWork more than resembles communes in its design and systems. In fact, the founding idea is actually derived from co-living concepts.
Both of WeWork’s original co-founders lived in communes as children. Adam lived in a Kibbutz in Israel while growing up. Kibbutz are communes native to Israel. According to Tourism Israel’s website, about 4% of the population is said to have grown up in a Kibbutz.
Miguel McKelvey’s childhood was similar too. He grew up along with six kids in a five mother commune in Eugene, Oregon.
When these two met for the first time, discussing life in the commune forged a bond between them. Without a doubt, they were building a commune for work and did succeed to a large extent.
Now the communication tip for today.
The story you read can be called the ‘origin story’ of WeWork. Most famous companies have one. It circles the humble beginnings of a company and also explains why the founders set out on their mission.
But coming up with origin stories is more difficult than you think. Smart founders, in fact, take time to perfect its narrative. This WeWork story was even a part of their new staff onboarding presentation.
There are other companies that use the origin story to good effect. Airbnb’s Brian Chesky keeps narrating the ‘Broke designers in San Francisco’ story. And many of us also know how Bill Gates started programming in his garage. If done right, the origin story is an asset in marketing and PR, in building employee connect and also in bringing in investors.
There are a few steps in writing out an origin story. You need to identify the right ones and structure them in a way that they deliver a message. If you’d like to have a 30 minute free call about building your origin story, write back to me. I have three slots available for this, its first come, first serve 🙂
One thing you could read today:
Recently, I watched the Hulu documentary on WeWork. It had some fascinating stories about the company and Adam Neuman. It also gave me a lot of insights about the storytelling skills of the now disgraced founder. So I decided to write a blog on what we can learn from him. You can read it here, I am sure it will be worth your time.
That’s it from me today.
Hope you enjoyed this edition of ‘win with stories’ newsletter.
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