By: Lindsay Angelo, MBA, Growth Strategist, Futurist
Strategic storytelling is a communication tool that helps you tell an engaging and powerful story, particularly to busy executives. Leveraging the pyramid principle, strategic storytelling in some ways is the opposite of traditional storytelling. It practices communicating the end or "big ah-ha" first (spoiler alert!), and then backing it up with key arguments and facts.
If you’re struggling to influence or engage your audience—whether it's Executives, managers, investors, or peers, it's time to consider strategic storytelling. In this post, we'll answer the following:
What is strategic storytelling?
What is the pyramid principle?
Why does strategic storytelling work?
How can you improve your strategic storytelling skills?
Let's dive in!
What is Strategic Storytelling?
Strategic storytelling is a communication technique used in business storytelling. Its power comes in its ability to communicate complex concepts/projects/plans, simply in a way that resonates with your audience. Strategic storytelling is one component of strategic thinking that can be applied at any point in articulating a strategic problem—the beginning, middle, or end—when you've arrived at a recommendation.
Click here for strategic thinking examples.
What is the Pyramid Principle and How Does it Relate to Strategic Storytelling?
It’s not enough to have the answer—you also have to be effective at enrolling people in that narrative.
Strategic storytelling is a storytelling approach rooted in the pyramid principle, a method of structured succinct communication that’s powerful when communicating with busy Executives and leaders. It normally follows the application of hypothesis-driven thinking or the crafting of a logic tree using MECE, which you can learn more about here.
Generally speaking, it practices leading with the answer and then backing that answer up with key arguments and facts/data that support those arguments.
The pyramid principle is particularly great for communicating complex ideas/recommendations at the most senior levels because it's quick and succinct, meets your audience where they are, and creates a human connection. That's why it's used by some of the most renowned management consulting firms around the globe, including BCG (the Boston Consulting Group), McKinsey & Co, Bain, and others. In fact, the pyramid principle was originally developed by former McKinsey & Co. consultant, Barbara Minto. It has withstood the test of time!
Why Does Strategic Storytelling Work?
So why does this form of communication work? Here are some of the key benefits:
Cuts to the quick – Although it can be counterintuitive to start with the answer, the person you’re communicating with is most likely busy, especially the higher up the chain you go. To maximize time, you want to lead with the punch line. In some cases, they may already be on the same page. And if so, perhaps they’ll stop you right there— great! Let them stop you and save you both time!
Meets your audience where they are – If you’re communicating with a leader, often times, they want to focus on the bigger picture and not get bogged down by the details. By leading with the recommendation, you’re meeting them where they are. If they want more information, you’re ready with it and can double-click as necessary.
Persuasive – Being direct is an incredibly powerful form of influence. By answering someone’s question off the top, you signal assertiveness and confidence. You’re not buying time, you’re giving them exactly what they’ve asked for. Think of how lawyers communicate in the courtroom when trying to persuade. They start with the answer in their opening argument: “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, [xxx] are innocent beyond any reasonable doubt… I’ll prove this over the course of this trial..." This is followed by laying out the facts. In applying strategic story-telling, you want to emulate the same process, just hopefully not in a courtroom 🙂
Strategic Story-telling Applied
To help better understand, here is an example of strategic storytelling used to answer the question, "What should we have for dinner?"
Start with the main point (the answer or conclusion): "Let's have homemade pizza for dinner tonight." This sets the stage for your dinner choice and makes it clear from the beginning.
Provide your supporting arguments (the key reasons):
a) "Pizza is versatile and customizable to individual preferences." Explain how pizza allows everyone to choose their favorite toppings, such as vegetables, meats, and cheeses. It caters to a variety of tastes and dietary restrictions.
b) "Making homemade pizza is a fun and engaging activity for the family." Highlight how involving the family in the pizza-making process creates an enjoyable bonding experience.
c) "Homemade pizza is cost-effective and healthier than ordering takeout." Mention how buying the ingredients for homemade pizza is generally more affordable than ordering from a restaurant. Additionally, you have control over the quality and quantity of ingredients, allowing for healthier choices.
Substantiate each key reason with supporting evidence or examples: For each supporting argument, provide specific details or examples to reinforce your points. For example:
Mention specific toppings that each family member enjoys, such as pepperoni, mushrooms, or bell peppers.
Share past experiences of making pizza together as a family and how it brought joy and laughter.
Discuss the cost comparison between homemade pizza and ordering from a pizzeria, emphasizing the potential savings.
Voila! The combination of #1, #2, and #3 ultimately becomes your strategic narrative providing you with persuasive content to communicate your position!
By applying the Pyramid Principle to the question of dinner choice, you provide a clear and structured response. Starting with the conclusion, you support it with three key reasons and back each reason with specific evidence or examples. This approach helps facilitate a more focused and organized discussion, making it easier to reach a consensus on having homemade pizza for dinner.
How to Elevate Your Strategic Storytelling
Now that you know the basics of strategic storytelling, here are a few principles of storytelling that you can apply to supercharge your skills:
1. Know Your Audience
Part of delivering a compelling message is knowing your audience—what are their needs, objectives, and communication styles? For example, think of influencers—they understand what their viewers want, and build relationships with them through delivering daily content that resonates. No wonder influencer marketing is one of the most popular marketing strategies in today's business landscape!
Another example is when you're presenting to a group of investors. Double clicking on the financial benefits of your proposal can be effective because it's their Modus Operandi (MO)! However, that MO differs when addressing employees, your manager, your customers, etc. Ultimately, you want to tailor your pitch to your audience.
2. Use Visuals
Visuals can help bring your content to life. Enhance your presentation slides with images, videos, or even props to ensure you create an impactful experience that reaches everyone. Bringing stories to life—whether business stories or bedtime stories—is what makes them sticky!
3. Be Authentic
Authenticity is one of the essential elements to effective storytelling. Your story should be genuine and bring your own experiences to life. Weave personal stories into your pyramid if you can. Insights-driven story doesn't mean all numbers and facts—personal stories can be a powerful tool to communicate data and insight through.
4. Keep it Simple
The magic of storytelling is in its simplicity. No need to present an entire book. Your narrative should be simple and easy to understand. Avoid abstract concepts or any complex content that feel inaccessible to your audience. The power of storytelling lives in simplicity that reaches your audience where they are!
5. Close with a Call to Action
What do you want your audience to do after hearing your story? If it's a busy Executive, do you want a yes/no answer? Or purely their opinion/advice? Or perhaps the ask is for them to communicate to their team? If you're presenting to investors, do you want them to take it away for review and circle back with an answer? Whatever it is, be clear on your CTA. Great stories end with clear calls to action.
The Power of Three
A powerful tactic to layer on to strategic story-telling is the power of three—in other words, grouping your arguments in three's. Our mind absorbs and organizes information well in threes. You’ll notice the power of three in much of our Strategic Thinking Training content.
Combining the power of three with the pyramid principle will help you craft a powerful narrative arc that can be used to communicate not only with busy leaders, but with anyone you wish to influence or enroll—managers, investors, board members… parents, even kids!
Learn the Power of Storytelling with our Online Strategic Course
By crafting and delivering a persuasive strategic narrative, you can influence, inspire, and build credibility with your key stakeholders, ultimately driving meaningful action.
Want to dive deeper into strategic storytelling and the pyramid principle? Check out our strategic thinking training today!
Read more about hypothesis driven thinking, strategic thinking training, strategic thinking examples, what is strategic thinking, strategic planning, futures thinking and futurology.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Absolutely—these tools are used by prominent consulting firms around the globe due to their effectiveness and efficiency. It's part of the reason why renowned consulting agencies can charge premiums for their services!
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Strategic storytelling is a communication tool that helps you tell an engaging and powerful story, particularly to busy executives! It's rooted in the pyramid principle.
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In this course, you'll learn a broad set of techniques including how to problem-solve effectively (aka. hypothesis-driven thinking), how to make critical decisions, how to craft an insights-driven story, and how to deliver a persuasive presentation with persuasive content built on a strategic narrative.
Amongst the AI and big data age and in a quickly changing landscape, adopting a strategic mindset have never been more fundamental.
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This course is for business leaders wanting to make a big impact and level up their performance through strategic thinking — from CEOs and founders to Senior Executives, Business Executives, Corporate Leaders, Senior Vice Presidents, Senior Leaders, Senior Management, business owners, and freelancers. We reach a wide array of industries—retail, consumer products, technology, saas, health and wellness, finance...come one come all!
Have a business unit, business function, or team? We tailor to you, too!
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Absolutely—business storytelling is crucial to your ability to perform. The course provides the strategic storytelling principles that will help you influence and deliver persuasive business presentations to any audience. Have a fear of public speaking? The course will also help equip you with the confidence to know that you've dotted your i's, crossed your t's and have a persuasive story to tell—even if you're delivering it to Dave McKinsey himself!
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The biggest management consulting firms around the globe employ the pyramid principle for its effectiveness. Prominent consulting firms such as the Boston Consulting Group, Bain, McKinsey and Co are amongst the group.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lindsay provides growth and advisory services to purpose-driven brands. Named a global innovation leader and Women to Watch, you will find her at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and innovation. When she’s not collaborating with clients, she’s hitting TEDx and other stages across North America to deliver keynotes on the future of consumerism, strategy, and innovation. Prior to advising and providing brand and marketing consulting services, Lindsay spent six years at lululemon crafting their global growth strategy, exploring new marketplace opportunities, and growing the company into the number one yoga wear player in the world. Her experiences culminate in what she refers to as her sweet spot—where strategy, innovation, and insights intersect, where the rational meets the emotive and logic meets intuition.
