A Broader View

Many people think building a strategic narrative is about making their sales or company presentation deck look better.

This is a very limiting and dangerous view. So I’d like to suggest a way to broaden it and give you a useful tip.

Although a strategic narrative can be described in a document, like a presentation, it actually lives in people's collective hearts, minds, and habits. That includes you too. A strategic narrative is a common understanding of “how and why we do things around here.”

You can apply this way of framing the word narrative to society, an industry, a market, an organization, a team, or an individual. Think about these levels as Russian dolls.

The wind is invisible. Yet, you can see its effect on the environment all around. Water, trees, flag, etc., all move according to the direction and strength of the wind.

The same goes for all the elements surrounding the concept of a company. People, products, strategy, messaging, customers, etc., all get activated according to your strategic narrative's direction and strength.

So, where does your presentation fit in this context?

Your strategic narrative is visible in many places, including in elements such as your processes, products, sales and marketing material, decisions, behaviors, symbols, culture, mindsets, or stories.

Your presentation material is only one of these many visible manifestations of your strategic narrative.

Let's continue with the metaphor. Your presentation is like one of the objects (such as trees or flags) that the wind agitates.

With this in mind, here is a useful tip:

If your company presentation, decisions, products, and so on are all showing that the “wind” is blowing in different directions, you have a problem. Things are off, and your company can’t function effectively. In other words, your ship can’t sail because it’s caught in a misalignment storm.

That’s when you know that your strategic narrative needs to be fixed. Or built.

Feeling like things are off?

Join the Strategic Narrative Workshop. It starts on July 27th. This is your chance to transform the way you, your team, and everybody else think, talk, and make decisions about your business so it thrives.