You may know a story like this one. This is a story about a man who gave a company back it's soul. There was a company that used to be about helping people get better. It was wildly successful, and began to focus more and more on profit. A man in the company didn't like what was going on. He decided not to leave, and instead began collecting information - data - about customer's likelihood to recommend the company to family and friends.
At first, he collected this information behind the scenes, not making a big fuss about the results he came up with. To be fair, the company still had plenty of fans, but a rumbling of discontentment was building with what was perceived to be unfair policies that extracted "bad profit" - profit at the expense of the customer as opposed to profit coupled with benefit to the customer.
The man got his chance when the leaders of the business came to the realization that customers were leaving and profits were not growing at the rate they expected. He shared his data with the executives, and was given the task of turning the culture around.
He started his turnaround effort with an all employee meeting in which he showed the data. But no one really remembers the data, they only remember a single number: 14. 14 was the number of times a loyal customer had been transferred in her attempt to get credit for old accessories that would no longer be usable if she decided to upgrade to a newer product that used different accessories. In the end, she decided to go to the competition. The product was for her sick son.
This is a story about the power of storytelling. The charts and graphs did not elicit the same collective sigh from the audience that the story did. The data and statistics were not retained in the collective memory of the employees - the woman's plight was retained. The story began the process of re-injecting soul into the company.
Much of our effectiveness in business is determined by our ability to present to groups of people. I just attended my organization's national sales meeting, and there were plenty of slick slides, charts, even pyrotechnics (you gotta love sales). But years from now, I will recall the stories that were told. I am a "numbers" guy, but the story I told is a true story that taught me about storytelling, and about the human soul.
What other presentation tips or resources would you like to share?
excellent post Ben
ReplyDeleteNice post. I enjoyed reading it. Have you ever read Follett's views on leadership and management? Her work is really interesting. I think a lot of company's could really benefit from thinking outside the box with regard to corporate culture and management. Thanks for sharing!
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