Here’s the full rewrite — now built entirely around the Hero’s Journey as the master model (no ladder/economy language), staying anchored to financial services and customer aspirations rather than the broader employee/culture terrain of the original.

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Stories and Cities

We like BIG stories.

Big stories, honest transformation, and a clearer view of what it means to guide a customer toward their aspirations — these are the answers to the question every financial institution is quietly asking right now. People are no longer satisfied with another product, another portfolio review, another advisory meeting. They’re seeking a story worth being part of, and a journey that actually changes them.

As the pace of financial life accelerates, customers are asking real questions, whether they say them out loud or not: What does my own journey toward financial security, or freedom, or my next chapter actually look like? How do I turn the trials I’m facing — a career change, a retirement, a loss — into a story that moves me forward instead of one that leaves me stuck? Why does the advice I receive feel like a transaction, when what I need is a guide?

Every one of these questions is relevant to your business and your clients — and your clients are not the only ones asking them. Most importantly, there is a definitive path for answering each one. Peter de Kuster’s work centers on the Hero’s Journey: the one great story of the heroes of the imagination, translated into four stages every financial customer moves through — where they are, the call, the trials, and the return. It applies equally to the client discovering what their money can make possible, and the advisor discovering what it means to be the guide in someone else’s story.

Stories and Cities brings this work directly to you.

Rather than a single format in a single place, Peter runs these programs in major cities around the world — customized for organizations located near each one. Wherever your teams are based, there’s a version of this journey built for your market and your customers.

Whether your priority is client transformation, advisor capability, or rethinking the relationship altogether, these are real sessions, in real cities, working through real cases — not a slide deck shipped in from somewhere else.

We invite you to explore Peter’s body of work — the books, articles and case material behind these ideas — as a first look at what a Stories and Cities program can bring to your organization.

In the end, the goal is simple: to help you and your advisors understand the full potential of the journey your clients are already on — and how becoming a true guide on that journey is what will outlast any product cycle or market shift.