Set in 1980s Naples, Italy, Sorrentino’s The Hand of God is the tale of the Italian writer-director reckoning with his lost youth. In it, there is a scene I deeply love.
The film writer and director Antonio Capuano, a mentor to Sorrentino in real life, has a dramatic exchange with a young Sorrentino (the quiet and introvert Fabietto Schiesa). It goes as follows:
“Antonio Capuano: Is it possible this city doesn’t inspire you at all? So, you got something to say? Or are you an asshole like everyone else? Have you got a story to tell? Have some guts! Got a story to tell or not? C’mon you fool! Got a story to tell? Find the guts to tell it! C’mon! Got a story to tell?
Fabietto Schisa: Yes!
Antonio Capuano: Then spit it out!
Fabietto Schisa: When my parents died, they didn’t let me see them!
Antonio Capuano: Don’t come undone, Fabio.
Fabietto Schisa: Everyone calls me Fabietto.
Antonio Capuano: Time they start calling you Fabio.
Antonio Capuano: Don’t come undone.
Fabietto Schisa : What does that mean?
Antonio Capuano: You gotta figure it out yourself.”
The importance of a story for an entrepreneur
Having a story to tell, a why, is a cornerstone for an entrepreneur to the point that its relevance becomes the foundation for all the marketing efforts to come, as pointed out by the former Chief Marketing Officer of Spotify, Seth Farbman.
Interviewed by Josh Steimle for his Chief Marketing Officers at Work (Apress, £26), he said: “I always go back to the founder’s story to look at the why —why did Daniel start Spotify instead of something else? He could have done anything. He’s a music fan. He plays the guitar. He wanted to use technology to open up music and try to restore growth to this industry that threatened to dramatically reduce the ability to discover more music. It was choking off creativity because the business model was broken. Downloads, CDs, etcetera, were falling. What I came up with quickly is what makes us special is being for music fans by music fans. That’s an authentic place. My onboarding was going as deep as I could inside myself and my thinking before I learned anything.”
Don’t come undone.
Oliver* 
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