The principle of priority is that a story has extreme forces in opposition.
As you already know, the principle of singularity is that there can only be one of each element. The principle of priority is that this singular element must also be the most important, most urgent, top priority.
“Top priority,” of course, is redundant (though commonly used). The word “priority” denotes whatever is most important. The problem is our lack of ability to prioritize.
It can be really difficult to determine what is most important across areas of our personal and professional lives, across initiatives, within projects. And yet… only one thing can really be first in line.
This is essential to storytelling. A story requires a hero who wants something so badly – more than anything else in the world – and they can’t have it because of the #1 biggest problem in the way.
The more intensely the hero wants, and the larger the obstacle, the more urgency the hero feels, and the more interesting and captivating the story.
The ability to determine priority is a function of empathy. It’s not easy to really step into someone else’s shoes, see things through their eyes, and consider what they want without inadvertently substituting what you want.
What helps you play with priority is applying the principle of singularity. Make changes to the goal or obstacle, and see how that affects your intuitive sense for how urgent the story is.
For example, there is a big difference between the goals of:
- Wanting the customer to be happy
- Wanting the customer to be happy with us
- Wanting the customer to be happy with the solution
If you think the above three goals are basically the same, you’re not telling a story. Yes, it’s true that if a customer is happy with the solution, they may be happy with we who provide it, and thus happy in general. However, to be direct, this way of thinking leads to strategic errors and communication mistakes.
Happiness is a state of being which relates to expectations. If your goal – your priority goal – your #1 most important goal – is for the customer to be happy with the solution, the solution has to work. While that seems obvious, if you’re doing innovation, the solution may not work (at first). What determines the customer’s happiness with YOU has a lot more to do with your communication skills and where you’ve set expectations.
The point is that you want to be precise with the text you use to express your goal and obstacle because when you make small changes to story elements, the other elements will necessarily change as a result (according to the principle of equivalency). This will result in a slightly different goal-obstacle pair and a different flavor of urgency. When you look through the decision-maker’s eyes and feel your gut tighten up, you’re on the right track.