Senior managers may feel that crafting a story around the data is a pointless and laborious effort—that the facts alone are enough to initiate the desired change. Unfortunately, this opinion is based on the flawed notion that business decisions are solely based on logic and reason. A multitude of experiments from the field of behavioural economics clearly prove that emotion, not rational thinking, is what determines the decisions we make. And very few things stir our emotions quite like a good story. Data may hold tremendous amounts of potential value, but if an insight isn’t understood and isn’t compelling, no one will act on it and no change will occur. […] Storytelling is not a panacea and not all stories are good. A bad story is confusing and boring, and can cripple the valuable insights painstakingly gathered from an analytics initiative. But with effort, a story enhanced with analytics can inspire real organizational change.
Authors: Eoin Whelan, Kieran Conboy, Seán Morris
Source: Ivey Business Journal
Subject: Storytelling
Click to Add the First »