Striking the right balance between data and narrative.

Crafting a story around data may seem like an unnecessary, time consuming effort. The insights may seem sufficient to stand on their own but this is a flawed point of view. Our decisions are not based solely on logic. When you tell a story with data, you create a shared human experience. We tend to believe that numbers alone drives our decision making. Now more than ever a company’s survival will require disruptive change and that will call for inspiring employees and consumers to act in unfamiliar and untraditional ways. This involves combining data, emotion and empathy to tell a well balanced story.

Our opening visual captures the audience’s attention and sets the tone for our story. As the soccer player dribbles the ball across a subway platform, a train pulls into the station. The player makes a split second decision and leaps across the platform! Just as athletes are trained to think strategically and shift course when necessary, so must leaders. They must respond quickly to identify changes that can either serve as inspiration to shake up their industry or wreak havoc on their market share.

Data and Narrative Connect The Rational And Emotional Brain

Psychologist Jennifer Aker states when data and stories are used together they resonate with us both intellectually and emotionally. Numbers alone are not memorable and messages delivered as stories can be up to 22X more memorable than just facts. Storytelling has the ability to translate dry and abstract stock prices into a compelling picture. Uber and Tesla are both popular companies that are disrupting their respective industries through innovation. When looking to quantify the impact that these companies have had on the market, we can use their stock price over time to see the highs and lows. The data can help narrate their unique story of innovation and endurance. The combination of data and narrative persuades the rational brain but also resonates with the emotional brain.

Uber’s stock performance can be portrayed as a cautionary tale of what can happen when you prioritize aggressive growth above all else. They had a steady rise coming out the gate during their debut on the stock market. They soon became blinded by competitiveness and lost their focus on the customer. UBER concentrated on disruption and ride efficiency to the point where it pitted itself against the drivers, customers and communities they claimed to serve. Over time with the installment of a new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, the internal culture began to change starting with an updated company value statement. Showing the winding curve of UBER’s stock price combined with the annotations adds drama while explaining the downward and upward trends.

Tesla Motors has been steadily innovating and building a sports car to accelerate the day of electric vehicles. They are a clean energy company that prides themselves on breaking the conventional thinking of the automotive industry. Despite several challenges, Tesla has shown success by being transparent about their vision, challenges and using differentiation in their marketing strategy. Looking at Tesla’s stock chart, we see ups and downs but not any dramatic dips or peaks compared to Uber. Tesla tells a story of perseverance. Their commitment to creating affordable mass market electric vehicles has been unwavering.

Stories Engage Your Audience Beyond The Facts

When creating visuals to tell a story you want to spark emotions to engage the audience. What if Uber was easily accessible at major NYC subway stations to minimize extensive passenger delays and used Tesla cars to take customers to their final destination? What if Uber and Tesla partner with local governments to solve local transportation issues?

Although good business arguments are developed through the use of numbers, they are typically approved on the basis of a story. When reading straight data, only the language parts of our brains work to decode the meaning. But when we read a story, not only do the language parts of our brains light up, but any other part of the brain that we would use if we were actually experiencing what we’re reading about becomes activated as well This means it’s far easier for us to remember stories than hard facts.

Putting It All Together And Creating Change

Combining data, emotions, and empathy as part of a narrative is something every company should learn to internalize. Analysis might excite the mind but it hardly offers a route to the heart. Making a pitch for UBER and Tesla to team up with NYC Transit to improve subway ridership is a disruptive idea that’s going to take a lot of convincing! Our story of innovation and disruption depicts the nimbleness of an athlete thinking outside of the box and shifting gears when necessary. This approach most likely would appeal to inspirational executives in senior leadership. Combining these emotions with data creates a more solid proposal as we begin to analyze UBER and Tesla’s performance to gauge how viable a partnership could be. More information will obviously be needed to make a decision but hopefully senior leadership is intrigued and excited by the idea to begin advocating for the transportation initiative. This is one of the reasons it’s important to enter the heart of your listeners through data storytelling to get it to their brains, especially where disruptive change is required.