I’ve always liked Mad Libs. Both the kind you played during family road trips when you were 8, and the kind I co-opt to help organizations put words to what feels abstract.

I’ve used them to help execs define themselves as a leader, for brand positioning, purpose/mission/vision/values, change communications, team alignment, and in so many other places.

It’s always easier to fill in a blank than it is to fill a blank page.

Here’s a Mad Lib I used recently with an executive team as they searched for words to tell their people why they were making change:

We are a company who has always [tell your people what has been and will always be true].

We are successful today because [honor the work your people have done to date].

But this is the beginning of our next chapter.

And to thrive in a world where [environment/customers/competitors/technology] is changing, we need to [take action, make change, work differently].

The choices we make and the work we do together will be in service of just that.

We are endlessly [your most compelling skill/attitude], and that is why we will succeed.

To use in a group:

1. Gather your team

2. Put the Mad Lib on the wall

3. Have each person spend 5-7 minutes individually and silently writing the answers to the blanks on post its

4. Have everyone share their responses

5. Discuss the differences. Notice the similarities. See if you can’t align on one version.

The trick is not to water down your responses so they become so vague they’re meaningless. Resist the urge to “combine” two people’s answers for one blank in an attempt to be inclusive. Make strong, risky choices. Ask yourself, could someone at another company pick up this Mad Lib and it would be just as true for them? Does this sound like boilerplate, business-speak, PR-like language? Did you use words like “innovation” and “integrity”? If so, it’s okay, it’s normal. Keep trying. And don’t worry about word-smithing.

Just ask yourself: “What is the truth?”