This is the time of year when we feel really ambitious and gear up for a season of activity, relaxation, and celebration of summertime.

It has been a challenging spring with rain, cold, tornadoes, and flooding. We’ll remember it and someday reminisce about Spring 2011.

Why did teachers always assign us this essay on the first day of the new school year? Stories are the way we connect to each other as friends, family, neighbors, as well as customers and consumers. We listen to our target population–the ones whose perspectives we strive to understand. We tell the story of our brand, our services, our products and hope they will listen and join the narrative.

The change of seasons reminds us to open to new experiences and most of all, new stories being continuously created and retold.