The stories that make you relevant

What are the stories that put you on the radar of your future clients, and also of the public you want to reach?

The answer is simple and powerful: the stories that speak about them.

This idea is easy to accept, but turning it into a strategic practice requires going deeper. Let us look at what it really means and what conclusions we can draw for personal branding.

Stories that speak to your clients’ reality

In Habla con el corazón you explain that every story rests on four structural elements: problem, change, vision and conflict. These elements determine whether a narrative captures attention, generates meaning and moves people to act.

Everything begins with the problem. In brand storytelling, the problem you choose is the moment in which you decide who the hero of the story is. If the problem is genuinely felt by your public, then they become the protagonists. This is the logic: the story is not about you, it is about the person who recognises their own experience in what you say.

The problem determines the level of tension, and tension determines attention. If you tell a CEO that their company may lose business in the United States because of how openly they communicate their sustainability efforts, this will trigger immediate alertness. The US market is too important to ignore. In that moment, you have entered their cognitive field because you have touched a real concern.

But capturing attention is only the entry point.

From attention to relevance: change and vision

Once you raise the question, you carry the responsibility of offering a path forward. This appears in two elements: the change you propose (the solution to the problem) and the vision you offer (the improvement your public can expect once the solution is applied).

These elements provide direction and meaning. They convert attention into interest. Without them, tension remains unresolved, and your story loses strategic power.

The external conflict: the obstacle that makes the problem real

Every problem brings difficulties, and those difficulties generate conflict. This is the external conflict: the visible obstacle that makes the situation serious.

For example, imagine you explain that certain large US companies avoid working with consultants who communicate sustainability too explicitly. If the consultant’s value proposition revolves precisely around sustainability, they face a real strategic dilemma. This is not abstract; it is a concrete clash between belief and market behaviour. The tension is high, and your audience knows it.

At this level, they listen because you help them navigate a practical challenge.

The inner conflict: where real transformation happens

If you want your story to create a deeper bond, you must go further. You need to address the inner conflict, the quiet resistance that each person experiences when facing change. Every meaningful transformation requires rethinking assumptions, updating beliefs and redefining part of one’s identity.

Joseph Campbell described this as a symbolic death and rebirth. Albert Einstein expressed a similar insight when he said that no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. A shift in perspective is necessary.

If you are able to articulate this shift with empathy, clarity and respect, you help your audience name what they feel and often avoid: the discomfort of transformation. This is one of the most valuable services you can offer, because people rarely resist the solution; they resist the internal movement required to adopt it.

At this point, the reaction of your audience becomes very meaningful. Some people will step back, and that is healthy because they are not ready. Others will stay, and they will give you their full attention, because you are addressing something essential in their experience. A good example is Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU Stern and one of today’s most influential public thinkers on business, leadership and societal trends. He has built a vast audience by going straight to the bone of problems, naming uncomfortable truths and challenging the assumptions of his public with respect, yet firmly. He speaks with clarity about issues that many prefer to avoid, and people stay because he articulates the questions they cannot ignore.

Becoming a relevant voice

When you bring language to the problem, when you make the conflict visible, and when you create the conditions for your audience to reflect on the internal shift they need, you position yourself as a relevant voice. You contribute to their understanding of themselves. You guide the interpretation of their situation. You offer a perspective that helps them move forward.

When you do this, you become visible as a voice that brings clarity to their own experience.

Your stories stop being about you.

They become a mirror where your audience recognises their own struggle, their own potential and their own path to resolution.

This is the strategic role of narrative in personal branding: helping your audience see their own reality with more clarity, depth and courage.

When you achieve this, your presence in their mental landscape becomes natural and stable.