Chris works as a marketing manager for an e-commerce company. Every day, her computer screen is filled with numbers that she has to make sense of.
When asked about her role in the business, she says, “I make meaning of numbers. The way I do that is by exporting those numbers from software to an Excel spreadsheet, then turning that spreadsheet into a graph for stakeholders and sharing the insight behind the number’s behavior. ”
Her response is telling. It shows how many of us think about data storytelling, and how, often, we believe that data storytelling consists of telling people what becomes visible after the numbers are visualized by a graph and what is the insight behind what we see.
But that is hardly true..
Chris and your best chance to be successful with data storytelling is to learn to insert your data insight into a story vessel.
Lets debunk this myth – My data insight is my data story
This is where you just talk about the insights you’ve gained and hope to persuade people on that intellectual basis alone. Something along the lines of,
“As you can see, our sales went up in quarter three and the reason for that was sales promotion.”
And while your reasons may be all rational and correct, “People are not inspired to act by reason alone.” (Fryer, 2003). When has data like “We have 36,000 employees, 36 locations, and 110 years of existence” ever convinced us that a company is worth working with or for?
These are fragmented pieces of evidence. And evidence alone will never get you there. A story is the essential vessel that carries the power to make change happen. You need to insert your insights, evidence, and reasons into a storied vessel to make the change happen.
Still don’t believe me? Let’s take a lesson from the Three Little Pigs story. I was inspired to come up with this example after watching Libby Spear’s example on Little Red Riding Hood.
Think about what the Three Little Pigs would look like if we reduced the story to conventional rhetoric filled with reasons.
Let’s convert the story into something that we can use to appeal intellectually or as conventional business rhetoric with reasons.
- TASK
- Three pigs to build houses
- STRATEGIC CHOICES FOR MATERIALS
- Two pigs choose straw and sticks
- PROS AND CONS OF THE CHOICE
- PROS: Save time and money
- PROS: More time for leisure activities
- CONS: Stability at risk
- STRATEGIC CHOICES FOR MATERIALS
- One pig chooses brick as medium
- PROS AND CONS OF THE CHOICE
- PROS: Stable
- CONS: Labour and time intensive
- IDENTIFIED CHALLENGE
- A wolf wants to eat the pigs. Manages to break the straw and stick house but is unable to break the brick house
- OUTCOME AND RECOMMENDATION FOR CHANGE
- Brick is a better choice of material
Now, let us look at the original story
Once upon a time there were three little pigs. One pig built a house of straw while the second pig built his house with sticks. They built their houses very quickly and then sang and danced all day because they were lazy. The third little pig worked hard all day and built his house with bricks.
A big bad wolf saw the two little pigs while they danced and played and thought, “What juicy tender meals they will make!” He chased the two pigs and they ran and hid in their houses. The big bad wolf went to the first house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in minutes. The frightened little pig ran to the second pig’s house that was made of sticks. The big bad wolf now came to this house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in hardly any time. Now, the two little pigs were terrified and ran to the third pig’s house that was made of bricks.
The big bad wolf tried to huff and puff and blow the house down, but he could not. He kept trying for hours but the house was very strong and the little pigs were safe inside. He tried to enter through the chimney but the third little pig boiled a big pot of water and kept it below the chimney. The wolf fell into it and died.
The two little pigs now felt sorry for having been so lazy. They too built their houses with bricks and lived happily ever after.
Can you notice that when reduced the story to conventional rhetoric filled with reasons, this story is neither interesting nor memorable, and what’s more, it does not influence or excite an individual to take action. There’s no enrollment. But add in a narrative, and suddenly, everyone’s involved.
Can you notice that when reduced the story to conventional rhetoric filled with reasons, this story is neither interesting nor memorable, and what’s more, it does not influence or excite an individual to take action. There’s no enrollment. But add in a narrative, and suddenly, everyone’s involved.
Enrollment is a must.
So, before presenting the evidence, before assuming that people will change their minds in response to the data, we need to ask one more question: “Do I have the enrollment?”
As Seth Godin says, “Enrollment is not what happens when you sign up with the nearby school and they then threaten to throw the parents in jail if the kid doesn’t show up in class. Enrollment is when someone is eagerly present. When a consultant has enrollment from a client, the client is saying to her, “Yes, we want to move forward. Show us how.” As opposed to having to cajole and push and encourage the client to go forward.
A data insight falls on dead ears sans a story vessel
Book Update
The book has taken longer than I had anticipated for it to hit the shelves. However, I am expecting the final launch date in a couple of weeks. Thank you for your patience.
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