Why Great Strategies Need Good Stories

Caid Christiansen• September, 02 2015

Ian Rowden, former CMO of Virgin Group, Ltd. once famously said, “The best brands are built on great stories.” The same could be said of corporate strategies—a good strategy is necessarily built on a great story.

When most managers and executives think about strategy, they usually begin with the facts. Market share, growth rates, economic factors, and forward-looking forecasts fail to account for what people need to achieve a common goal: a unifying story. And, like any other business exercise, there are steps to making sure your narrative is sound.

Every strategic story needs four parts:

1. Setting the stage: First, a recap of the current state of the business and the market. Where you’ve been, the business and economic conditions that have led to where you are today, and the current obstacles to overcome in order to succeed.
2. A villain: Create a compendium of the problems that the market needs solved. This should include the obstacles you need to overcome in order to solve the market needs and overcome the competition.
3. A hero: Also known as your business. You should be able to document, in a compelling narrative, the unique assets, values, and advantages that you can deploy to overcome the challenges posed by the market.
4. A victory: This is what success looks like. Tell the story of how your plan will succeed. In addition, you should also clearly explain what the conditions of “victory” look like and what that will mean for your business and your stakeholders—your customers, your employees, and your shareholders.

Weaving these four pieces into an interesting narrative will help gain buy-in from stakeholders and create unity among team members. The story is a powerful tool that will guide your future marketing, sales, and even product development strategy in line with the overall business vision.