The Brand One-Liner

Ask most professionals what they do and you hear a job title or a cloud of adjectives: 'strategic, people-focused consultant'. Neither tells the listener whether you could help them. In the StoryBrand framework, Donald Miller replaces both with a one-liner in three parts. First the problem, because a problem is what makes the listener lean in. Then the solution, stated plainly as what you actually do. Then the result, the better situation the person will be in afterwards. The order matters: opening with the problem lets listeners recognise themselves before you mention yourself, which is the guide's position rather than the hero's. The hardest part is what Chip and Dan Heath call the curse of knowledge in Made to Stick: once you know a field, you can no longer hear how vague or technical your own description sounds to an outsider. That is why a one-liner has to be tested on strangers, not colleagues. A good one is short enough to say aloud in one breath, specific enough that the wrong people can tell it is not for them, and consistent: the same line on your profile, in your introductions and at the top of your website.