Today we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest Americans, and, dare I say, entrepreneurs who ever lived. Yes, he didn’t build a business nor own bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. At one time, King’s only possession was a scrap of newspaper. But from that scrap, he wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” where he carved out goals for civil rights. Like all exceptional entrepreneurs, King possessed resourcefulness and wielded the ability to communicate a vision—to tell a story.

Whether it’s King or Carnegie, a true entrepreneur masters the art of storytelling. A great story—one that jolts a fellow man’s soul into action—must be told with grace. It must own a message that is both simple and universal. For King, he told the story of justice for a community that universally dreamed for it. He had the ability to preach his message in a clear vision that would show the world how the cause related to everyone—black or white. His cause was our cause. His story was our story.

All stories that move people root themselves in identity as well. King understood this. Often a story will span the past, present and future of an individual or society. It will answer where we’ve come from, who we are and where we will go. Everyone has a timeline, and the civil rights timeline united a people with a past in slavery, a present in injustice and a future unknown. King proclaimed that to believe in the civil rights movement meant believing in the rights of all people. His story was everyone’s story.

Now, I’m not saying that your business idea or pitch needs to be crazy simple or appeal to everyone in the world. In fact, your idea to produce whoppie cushions for office chairs doesn’t even need to be noble. But if you do want to be a great entrepreneur, then you should take a moment to consider some questions:

1. How will my vision help others know where they’ve come from?
2. How will my vision help others know who they are?
3. How will my vision help others know where they are going?

If your story answers those questions simply for a community you want to help, then you’re well on your way to entrepreneurial greatness. King’s story did that for more people than most other leaders have ever done. That’s why King embodies one of the best entrepreneurs.

Like all extraordinary entrepreneurs, King had a dream—both simple and universal. He lead a story.

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Photo: I took this shot of the Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool at sunset during a study trip to Washington D.C. This was taken at the Lincoln Memorial, on the steps where King delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech.”