By Laura Newman

“What’s the most resilient parasite?”  Moviegoers will recognize this question from Christopher Nolan’s recent psychological thriller, Inception, and respond, “An idea!”

Perhaps it’s indicative of a London summer turned dreary (yes, I know, I shouldn’t be surprised!), but living in Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard’s dream world for two hours in the Chelsea cinema this past Saturday was, I’m not ashamed to say, my weekend highlight.

Despite criticism that the film was either too complex or not deep enough, the fast-paced, action-packed drama was entertaining.  Nolan captivates his audience with a world in which it is possible to share dreams – that is, enter into another person’s dream while you are both sleeping – and steal deep secrets metaphorically locked in a safe or other secure location.   But extracting knowledge isn’t enough for the ambitious cast in Nolan’s film; instead the group is challenged to perform inception – to plant an idea in someone’s mind.

This is a particularly dangerous – some say impossible – task because, as one character explains, “the subject’s mind always knows the genesis of an idea.”  In other words, it is not enough to give someone an idea; for them to truly believe and act on it, they need to consider themselves the originator of that idea.

And here is where I can’t help but notice a link to Communications – we can no longer be successful if we solely focus on cascading our messages through channels to reach our audiences.  If the goal is for  stakeholders to act on our messages, we must find a way for them to feel they discovered these messages (and by consequence, discovered us).

Indeed, a recent study indicates that stakeholders are 30% more likely to share or endorse something they discover – or, in keeping with the Inception theme, should I say, something they perceive themselves to have discovered!

Admittedly, Corporate Communications cannot make this happen, but we can make it more likely to happen.  The trick, which companies such as Southwest and National Instruments have started to realize, is to carefully listen for the right stakeholders (i.e., focus on the high-energy network hubs) and add value on their terms.

More concretely, Communications should make productive, timely contributions to conversations already underway amongst various stakeholder segments, and provide natural routes back to the company for those who desire more.

Why bother?  Our research shows that self-discovery combined with positive connections with the company yield active supporters—and active supporters are 70% more loyal than passive supporters.

Let’s take some final advice from Nolan’s film: “If we are gonna perform Inception, then we need imagination.”  I agree. If communicators are going to enable our stakeholders to self-discover us, we will need imagination.

How are you being imaginative?  In what ways are you helping stakeholders to “discover” your brand and messaging on their own?