Isn’t storytelling just a bit… woo-woo?
I remember sitting in a lecture room at Cranfield School of Management when one of the students put their hand up and asked: “Isn’t storytelling just fluff? How is it actually valuable?”
I had to restrain myself from standing up and giving a full platform speech about why I believe storytelling is one of the most underrated professional skills we can develop. I understand that for many engineers, scientists, analysts and technically minded professionals, communication has traditionally been associated with data, evidence, models, numbers and facts.
And rightly so. There are contexts where precision, technical detail and quantitative analysis are essential.
But What happens when you have the analysis, the recommendation and the expertise… but you cannot make people care about it? That is where storytelling becomes powerful. Storytelling is about giving the data and evidence meaning.When you can communicate your ideas through a compelling narrative, you give people a way to understand your thinking, connect it to a problem and, importantly, remember it. And this is a huge competitive advantage in business.
Whether you are:
• presenting a strategic recommendation
• pitching an idea
• communicating research
• influencing stakeholders
• interviewing for a role
• leading a team
• building a personal brand
• or trying to create opportunities
You are communicating with human beings. And human beings can’t connect with spreadsheets. They connect with emotions.
That is why I was so excited to collaborate with Dr Nazar Bartosik and ESCP.
Nazar is a nuclear physicist who has been presenting for more than 15 years.
He knows how to communicate numbers present to a scientific audience and pitch for investors.
But one of the reflections he shared with me after working through my storytelling programme really stayed with me:
He had never been taught how to use presentation and storytelling to build his personal brand. And that distinction is important because technical excellence can demonstrate what you know. Storytelling can help people understand who you are, why your work matters and why they should remember you. Storytelling is a skill that can be taught.
This week, it was an absolute privilege to work with students at ESCP, helping them explore how storytelling can strengthen the way they communicate their ideas, recommendations, expertise and experiences.
Because the next generation of business leaders don’t just need to know how to analyse a problem.
They need to know how to communicate the solution. And I believe business schools have an incredible opportunity to develop both.
So, if you are working in a business school, university, MBA programme or executive education environment, and you’re looking for ways to help your students communicate with greater clarity, confidence and human connection, I’d love to have a conversation.
Storytelling isn’t fluff, everyone has a story and when communicated correctly it can be one of the fastest ways we make knowledge travel from one human being to another. And that’s why I wrote Storytelling for Humans and developed the workshop.
If your students have something important to say, let’s make sure they know how to make people listen.
