Strategy and Storytelling

Every strategy needs the right story. Just as a strategy defines the path to the goal, a story depicts the path from the beginning to the happy end. Those who tell stories have a clear advantage when dealing with complex turnarounds, change initiatives or the sale of high-priced products and services.

Stories are simple, capture the audience’s attention and stay in the audience’s minds. The good news is that each one of us is a storyteller. Since the dawn of human history, people have used stories to share the ‘best practices’ that helped them secure their survival. This is why the bouncer in the brain admits stories willingly while fact-laden PowerPoint reports are kept outside.

This keynote shows how leaders can use storytelling to sell their strategy, their products or their ideas more effectively. (It is based on Veit Etzold’s book Der weiße Hai im Weltraum – Storytelling für Manager (Jaws in Space – Storytelling for Managers), which is currently only available in German).