Crafting Compelling Narratives in Business: A Consultant's Guide
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Storytelling is a skill that anyone can master.
It involves organizing information in a way that resonates with how our brains process and comprehend ideas.
Just as food must be presented in a digestible manner, information needs to be structured to be appealing to the mind.
In essence, storytelling transforms information into a format that captivates the human brain.
Throughout my early career, I delivered some rather ineffective presentations, which taught me an important lesson: your concepts hold no value if you can't effectively present and promote them.
Years later, after extensive reading, training, and hands-on projects, I now lead a team, own a business, and guide professionals in harnessing the power of effective communication.
In the realm of business, compelling narratives often follow a familiar framework akin to the hero's journey found in films.
By integrating this structure with the pyramid principle, you can create an impactful experience for your audience.
Here’s how to do it.
What is the Hero's Journey?
Our brains are naturally inclined to follow specific storytelling formats, notably the hero’s journey. Research indicates that we derive greater meaning from our experiences when viewed through this lens.
This narrative arc consistently adheres to a defined structure. For instance, consider The Lord of the Rings.
- A character: Frodo
- Has a problem: He inherits a powerful and corrupting ring, with evil forces pursuing him while he struggles against its influence.
- Meets a guide: Gandalf
- Receives a plan: Support, guidance, and fellowship
- Called to action: To destroy the ring
- Achieves success: Saves the world
- Avoids failure: Prevents the dark villain Sauron from obtaining the ring and ruling with terror
This fundamental pattern is present in nearly all beloved tales. While some narratives introduce additional elements, the core structure remains constant.
How the Hero's Journey Relates to Business
In the business landscape, we harness the power of the hero's journey.
This concept can be referred to as horizontal logic. Think of a presentation where each slide contributes to the overarching storyline.
In business storytelling, we adapt the hero’s journey into the Situation - Complication - Resolution (SCR) framework.
- Begin by outlining the audience’s current situation
- Highlight the business challenges from their perspective
- Position yourself as a guide without explicitly stating it
- Present your ideas as a plan
- Issue a call to action
- Aim for success and avoid failure by demonstrating business value
Notice that we typically add a call to action to the SCR framework. Once we capture the audience's attention, we prompt them to act.
This approach positions you as the guide in their hero's journey.
The first rule of effective communication is:
The audience is the hero in their own narrative. You are the guide providing a plan and a call to action.
Situation
Initially, you must accomplish two objectives:
- Connect with the audience’s current state.
- Clarify why they should engage with your message.
Many overlook these critical steps.
If you fail to meet your audience where they are, they may not even begin to listen. They could perceive a lack of understanding from you. If you cannot comprehend their situation, how can you assist them?
This principle mirrors blockbuster films. The Lord of the Rings begins with Frodo's relatable ordinary life.
How can you achieve this in a business context? By establishing the framework.
Consider an example from a McKinsey case study, The USPS Future Business Model.
The initial seven out of thirty-nine slides provide essential context. Here are the titles of those slides:
- USPS is experiencing unprecedented losses
- Losses stem from volume declines, RHB pre-funding requirements, and cost-saving limitations
- Volume declines have surpassed expectations established under the current legal and regulatory framework
- The recession has worsened volume declines, with e-diversion now driving long-term declines
- Retiree Health Benefit funding requirements impose a significant burden, equating to 12% of total revenue in 2010
- Recent workforce reductions have been substantial, but pieces per FTE still declined in 2009
- The USPS has responded to declining volume, but further reductions in work hours will be increasingly challenging to replicate
These slides provide a thorough overview of the organization's current situation, effectively meeting the audience where they are and clarifying the importance of listening.
Complication
In this section, you must articulate why the current situation is dire and why the audience—the hero—must act immediately.
While the situation illustrates the challenges, it may leave the audience with a sense of "So what?"
After this section, your listeners should:
- Feel a sense of urgency and concern
- Ask themselves: What should we do?
Let’s examine an excerpt from the case study to emphasize the complication.
- Four trends will impact postal economics moving forward
- Volume will decline significantly over the next decade, driven by a steady decrease in First-Class Mail, the most profitable segment
- Workforce costs continue to rise faster than inflation through 2020
- These combined trends will place immense pressure on USPS due to its largely fixed-cost structure
- The “Base Case” predicts a loss of $33 billion and cumulative losses of $238 billion by 2020
Wow. If no action is taken, we risk losing $238 billion.
We have reached the peak of despair. At this point, it should be evident to all that action is necessary.
But how?
Resolution
In this section, the presenter, in the case of McKinsey, positions themselves as the guide who offers the struggling hero a solution.
Here are some of the slide titles that outline the path to resolution, aiming for success and avoiding failure:
- USPS can pursue two sets of actions to address the challenge
- The “Actions within Postal Service control” scenario includes product and service initiatives to increase volume
- Significant productivity improvements in the “Actions within Postal Service control” scenario could yield approximately $10 billion
- Increasing workforce flexibility and enhancing procurement can add about $1 billion in the “Actions within Postal Service control” scenario
- A “Fundamental Change” that increases USPS's flexibility will be necessary to close the remaining gap
- USPS must explore multiple “Fundamental Change” options to close the gap
- Opportunities for USPS in terms of products and services
It appears that a solution exists after all. Phew...
Notice how this horizontal logic guides the audience through a journey?
- Starting from their challenging situation: losses, declining volume, recession
- Through a peak of despair—the complication: alarming trends, further volume declines, rising workforce costs, immense pressure, $238 billion in losses
- To hope: a potential resolution if action is taken and the plan is followed: two sets of actions, revenue generation, cost control, workforce flexibility, fundamental changes, product and service opportunities
Narratives like this stimulate the listener's brain to release dopamine—a neurotransmitter associated with desire for more.
This engages the audience, encouraging them to listen and seek additional information.
And surely, McKinsey will be eager to provide more to an engaged audience...
How to Utilize the Pyramid Principle to Organize Each Story Element
With the SCR framework established, we have defined the horizontal logic of your communication—the storyline.
But how do we effectively articulate each segment of the storyline?
This is referred to as vertical logic. Here, we employ the Pyramid Principle, which organizes information into easily digestible components.
Why is structure crucial?
Because the brain processes information visually. Individuals comprehend and retain ideas more effectively when they are arranged logically.
For instance, consider stars.
For millennia, humans have viewed stars not merely as points of light but as shapes and figures. This pattern recognition aids in remembering constellations.
The same principle applies to ideas.
This is why Barbara Minto developed the Pyramid Principle—a top-down communication structure.
How to Implement the Pyramid Principle
When presenting, adhere to these three steps:
- Lead with the conclusion: Present your main point at the outset.
- Support your conclusion with high-level facts.
- Back up those facts with detailed explanations, data, and analysis.
To achieve this, you must build from the ground up. This entails:
- Aggregating your findings into arguments
- Grouping your arguments
- Summarizing to create the leading argument
Let’s explore an example from the McKinsey presentation.
Breaking it down:
The main point is presented clearly at the top:
Without aggressive management cost-cutting, work hours will remain flat while volume declines are countered by an increase in delivery points.
We refer to this as the action title, which I will elaborate on later.
Support:
- Work hours in 2009
- Reduction in mail volume
- Increase in delivery points
- Decrease in post office locations
- Reduction in overhead
- Work hours in 2020
Backup:
- Mail volume reduction: 1.5% annual decline (27 billion fewer mail pieces)
- Increase in delivery points: 0.8% annual increase (12 million new delivery points)
- Reduction in post office locations: 800 fewer locations (2% of the total)
How to Enhance Presentations with Action Titles
Action titles are critical elements that breathe life into the narrative.
They ensure that the audience grasps the key message right from the start, without needing to sift through extensive details.
This approach exemplifies receiver-focused communication.
An action title encapsulates the main idea of the slide into a single actionable takeaway.
Often, individuals are too preoccupied to absorb all the details. They should be able to discern the primary points by merely scanning the document and reading the titles.
Four Steps to Craft Effective Action Titles
First, identify the Key Message. Define the core message of the slide by considering:
- Who is the audience?
- What information is most pertinent to them?
- What is the key takeaway or “So What” of this slide?
Second, summarize the key message. Create a concise summary using active verbs like “increase,” “reach,” or “decline” to emphasize actions or changes.
Third, be specific: When applicable, incorporate concrete data points, such as “Increase Sales by 20%,” to capture attention.
Lastly, ensure consistency: Maintain a uniform style and tone across all titles in the presentation.
For instance, all slides mentioned previously utilize action titles. The following is particularly effective:
- It succinctly summarizes the most relevant point for the audience (USPS managers)
- It employs an active tone
- It includes concrete numerical data
I have elaborated on action titles with further examples here.
Key Takeaways
Attention has become the most valuable resource.
Storytelling is both the science and art of presenting information in alignment with human cognitive processes.
The hero's journey serves as a blueprint for crafting compelling narratives. In business contexts, we refer to this as the SCR (Situation, Complication, Resolution) framework:
- Connect with the audience’s current state and emphasize relevance
- Build tension
- Provide solutions and call for action
The Pyramid Principle offers a structured approach for communicating each component of the narrative:
- Begin with the most significant point
- Support it with arguments
- Underpin arguments with data and facts
Develop communication from the ground up.
Consider how many brilliant ideas may never come to fruition due to poor communication.
Don’t fall into the same trap.
What is your significant idea?
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