Reflection – Story Telling

Challenge & Selection

I work as a financial consultant and part of a consulting organization. As a financial consultant  my work involves providing specific insights / solution that the client needs. Some of the Client’s  problem statements I deal with include 1) Should I make this capital investment or not? 2) Should  I acquire / buy a capability (In-organic) or a build the capabilities (Organic) (i.e. Buy Vs Build  decisions) etc. My work involves collecting various financial / non- financial data from different  stake holders in a client organization, interacting with them (i.e. primary research) and performing  a deeper analysis of the data and leveraging our experience to provide insights to Client’s problem  statement. Typically I present my findings in the form of a presentation to Client’s stake holder  in a physical or a virtual meeting.

The challenge I faced include, I am trained to perform a deeper analysis of the data and think,  interact, analyse and talk only in the language of data through out a Client engagement process  often missing out the human element (i.e. creating connection / empathy). Also, the stake holder  I interact and present my findings to, not all of them are interested in only a number / data  focused discussions as they come from different background (i.e. finance, business development,  marketing etc.).

I used always wonder how I can have a more engaging discussions with my audiences and  communicate my deeper analysis of data and get their emotional investment into my findings. As  a part of my learning, I have come across this tool “Storytelling” which has entirely changed my  approach to presentations from a Data / Technical analysis centered to human centered – as the  author (Dolores) stress the importance of  in the lecture “As human being we respond to stories”.

Application :

As part of my learning I understood a good story must have a logic, emotional connections and  larger purpose and storytelling is all about creating that emotional connection with the audience.   In adopting this tool for my work purposes, I changed my approach to engagement where I used  to think, interact analyse and talk only in the language of data. I started to look for stories behind  the data, this aspect of looking for stories was embedded into all aspects of my engagement  thinking through stories, client interaction focused on understanding the reasons behind the data,  analyzing the data to find connections. In my preparation to the presentation, I started focusing  on connections, reasons behind the data and put them in a sequence of a story which evolved  from my data collection, interaction and analysis. All of these helped me to come up with findings  which are not only numbers / data but also a powerful story behind the data. My engagement  findings presentations which used be only focused on logic, now focus on stories (i.e. logic,  connections and larger purpose).

Insight & Approach:

I was able to transform myself from speaking the language of numbers (focusing on what I have  done) to speaking a language / story that the Client connects to their organization. The approach  to focus on stories has done wonders to engagement levels with Clients. As a financial consultant,  I was perceived as the “number man”, I was able to break that notion and gain emotional

investment of the clients and transform myself as a “consultant who truly understand the  business”. Also, focusing on stories during my engagement process makes the stake holders open  up more and provide more insights behind the data which was lacking in my earlier data driven  approach – Stories unlocked more stories from clients which helped me to better perform my  analysis and come up with better insights.

I learnt storytelling is a great tool that not only helped me in the professional environment but  also various other aspects of life and in general most of the human interactions. Ability or  developing a habit to focus on human centered approach to interactions, focusing on what the  audience or the other person needs helped to make compelling value propositions and improves  the relationship levels as it conveys empathy and creates emotional connections. Eventhouhg I  have heard about storytelling as a concept before, this course enabled me to get the ingredients  of storytelling and how to approach a storytelling in a structure manner.


Reflection – Story Telling Challenge & Selection I work as a financial consultant and part of a consulting organization . As a financial consultant my work involves providing specific insights / solution that the client needs . Some of the Client ’s problem statements I deal with include 1 ) Should I make this capital investment or not ? 2 ) Should I acquire / buy a capability ( In - organic ) or a build the capabilities ( Organic ) ( i.e. Buy Vs Build decisions ) etc . My work involves collecting various financial / non- financial data from different stake holders in a client organization , interacting with them ( i.e. primary research ) and performing a deeper analysis of the data and leveraging our experience to provide insights to Client ’s problem statement . Typically I present my findings in the form of a presentation to Client ’s stake holder in a physical or a virtual meeting . The challenge I faced include , I am trained to perform a deeper analysis of the data and think , interact , analyse and talk only in the language of data through out a Client engagement process often missing out the human element ( i.e. creating connection / empathy ) . Also , the stake holder I interact and present my findings to , not all of them are interested in only a number / data focused discussions as they come from different background ( i.e. finance , business development , marketing etc . ) . I used always wonder how I can have a more engaging discussions with my audiences and communicate my deeper analysis of data and get their emotional investment into my findings . As a part of my learning , I have come across this tool “ Storytelling ” which has entirely changed my approach to presentations from a Data / Technical analysis centered to human centered – as the author ( Dolores ) stress the importance of in the lecture “ As human being we respond to stories ” . Application : As part of my learning I understood a good story must have a logic , emotional connections and larger purpose and storytelling is all about creating that emotional connection with the audience . In adopting this tool for my work purposes , I changed my approach to engagement where I used to think , interact analyse and talk only in the language of data . I started to look for stories behind the data , this aspect of looking for stories was embedded into all aspects of my engagement thinking through stories , client interaction focused on understanding the reasons behind the data , analyzing the data to find connections . In my preparation to the presentation , I started focusing on connections , reasons behind the data and put them in a sequence of a story which evolved from my data collection , interaction and analysis . All of these helped me to come up with findings which are not only numbers / data but also a powerful story behind the data . My engagement findings presentations which used be only focused on logic , now focus on stories ( i.e. logic , connections and larger purpose ) . Insight & Approach : I was able to transform myself from speaking the language of numbers ( focusing on what I have done ) to speaking a language / story that the Client connects to their organization . The approach to focus on stories has done wonders to engagement levels with Clients . As a financial consultant , I was perceived as the “ number man ” , I was able to break that notion and gain emotional investment of the clients and transform myself as a “ consultant who truly understand the business ” . Also , focusing on stories during my engagement process makes the stake holders open up more and provide more insights behind the data which was lacking in my earlier data driven approach – Stories unlocked more stories from clients which helped me to better perform my analysis and come up with better insights . I learnt storytelling is a great tool that not only helped me in the professional environment but also various other aspects of life and in general most of the human interactions . Ability or developing a habit to focus on human centered approach to interactions , focusing on what the audience or the other person needs helped to make compelling value propositions and improves the relationship levels as it conveys empathy and creates emotional connections . Eventhouhg I have heard about storytelling as a concept before , this course enabled me to get the ingredients of storytelling and how to approach a storytelling in a structure manner .