Every Business is a Story
6 minute read
Field Notes is a series by The Beautiful Truth, where the TBT team share their contemporary takes on workplace challenges. This edition explores business storytelling.
“Facts are facts, stories are how we learn.” I love this quote from Alan Webber, founding editor of Fast Company.
We’ve all made what we perceive to be amazing presentations – arguments packed with data and insight. Yet so often, the audience drifts. Eyes glaze over. Because while data can convince in the moment, it rarely lingers. If you really want to capture an audience’s imagination – tell a great story.
A 2023 Harvard Business School study found that the memory of a story fades by only about one-third after a day, while the memory of a statistic fades by nearly three-quarters. Evidence that facts inform, but stories endure.
The irony of using data to make this point isn’t lost on me. But maybe that’s the point – facts speak to the head; they convince in the moment. Stories infiltrate memory, altering the way we carry ideas forward long after the facts have faded. They speak to the heart.
And in an environment where businesses are facing unprecedented disengagement, distrust, AI-driven upheaval, and scrutiny, story isn’t ‘fluff’ – it’s essential to survival.
When stories break
When business storytelling is broken, the consequences can be catastrophic. Take Boeing as an example. Traditionally seen as one of the pioneers and powerhouses of the aviation industry, Boeing espoused the story of ‘being an engineering company that puts safety first’.
For decades this was the case, as the company built immense internal pride in the gold standard it upheld. That is, until its merger with McDonnell Douglas.
Almost overnight, the focus shifted from purpose to profits, as cost-cutting measures were introduced to drive greater shareholder returns. Quickly the internal story shifted, with engineers describing a creeping cultural change: decisions once made by technical experts were increasingly overridden by financial priorities.
“If you really want to capture an audience’s imagination – tell a great story.”
This all came to a head with the rush to complete the 737 Max and the two crashes that cost 346 people their lives. The postmortem investigations revealed a painful truth: the company that was once defined by safety had lost sight of its own story.
The leadership insisted the planes were safe even as issues surfaced, widening the gulf between executives and the workforce. Multiple engineers testified that after the McDonnell Douglas merger, “finance and schedule began overriding engineering judgment.”
And the crudest indictment of all: internal emails released to investigators contained the line, “This airplane is designed by clowns, who are in turn supervised by monkeys.”
This was a story as much about betrayal as failure. And it leaves me wondering: what’s left of a business when its story no longer matches what people inside it feel?
When stories inspire
When done well, story isn’t just about branding or communications – it’s about reframing identity, purpose and agency. Look at leaders like Paul Polman, who changed the landscape of Unilever, and you see just how real – and transformative – business storytelling can be.
When Polman became CEO, he walked into a business that was caught in a cycle of short-term gains that were meaningless and misleading. “People often behave short-term because of the boundaries that are put around them,” he said.
So, he chose to tell a different story.
He did something almost unthinkable in the corporate world: he scrapped quarterly earnings reporting altogether. In its place, he set a long-term value-creation model – one that placed purpose, sustainability and responsibility at the heart of Unilever.
“What’s left of a business when its story no longer matches what people inside it feel?”
The change was profound. Within a decade, Unilever saw a 300% shareholder return and a 19% return on invested capital.
This couldn’t have been done without the right story. As he wrote in his book Net Positive: “All businesses now face a profound choice: continue pursuing the shareholder-first model that forces shortsighted decisions, hurts business, and endangers our collective well-being […] or build businesses that grow and prosper over the long haul by serving the world – that is, by giving more than they take.”
The four stories we keep telling
If Boeing shows the cost of a broken story, Polman shows the impact of a better one. And it made me reflect on the stories we’ve been helping businesses tell over the last 20 years.
Leaning on the work of Christopher Booker, I noticed businesses tell the same four stories repeatedly – the very ones that humanity has been telling for centuries across families, tribes and societies.
The first story is ‘Overcoming the Monster’ – think Jaws or a pharmaceutical company fighting to overcome Covid, the enemy at the global gate.
The second is ‘Rise to Greatness’ – think Harry Potter or Nike’s promise in its advertising to take you as an unknown and make you overcome every possible challenge with superhuman abilities.
Third, there’s ‘The Quest’ – think Lord of the Rings or technology companies on a quest to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by bringing together the best minds across industry.
And finally, there’s ‘Rebirth’ – think Scrooge in A Christmas Carol or Apple bouncing back from the verge of bankruptcy in the 1990s, realising the error of its ways, and going on to create the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
“Perhaps that’s why these ancient plots have endured: they answer the questions that haunt us whenever we face uncertainty.”
With this I realised the power stories have to act as maps, helping us navigate change and uncertainty. Knowing which story you are telling allows you to take control of it. This in turn gives your people an opportunity to get behind it – so it is lived rather than lamented. Story gives meaning to data, turns strategy into something people can act on, and transforms change into a shared journey.
Perhaps that’s why these ancient plots have endured: they answer the questions that haunt us whenever we face uncertainty. Who am I? Who are we? Where are we going? Can we survive change – and grow through it?
Business is not just a profit-making entity; it’s a meaning-making one as well. At a time of unprecedented global uncertainty, who is your business going to be? What story will you tell?
‘The Human Story of Business’ is a framework, a talk, a workshop and a diagnostic toolkit. Designed by The Beautiful Truth, it aims to help you and your business make sense of the tumultuous times we are all experiencing. Download it at wearetbt.com.
