I often have the privilege of providing business growth coaching to smart CEOs in the tech sector. Many struggle to get the story of their business straight. It gets clouded in a fog of digital speak. It is hard not to be seduced into colluding with these CEOs trying to improve their PointPoint deck.

I am trying a new tack with a few simple questions with an initially reluctant CEO. The surprisingly obvious questions are - what's your company story? Why do you care? Why should customers care?

Nothing new here of course except the twist - every single time I meet him I ask him these questions and he has a total of 2 minutes to respond. I give him one piece of direct feedback each time.

The discipline is hard - he has now carried out this exercise 9 times. However the results are striking. Digital and abstract speak have been replaced by an emotional caring and authentic story. He now seems to really care.

Compelling value propositions come from the heart rather than the head. 'State of the heart' beats 'state of the art'.