Storytelling for Business

Everyone’s telling stories. Most of them aren’t working.

Storytelling has become the buzzword of every conference, every leadership program, and every communication coach on the planet. And the advice is always the same: tell more stories.

Here’s what they don’t tell you.

A story told badly is worse than no story at all. The wrong story, told for the wrong purpose, in the wrong context, doesn’t just miss — it actively works against you. It makes you look unfocused, self-indulgent, or worse, like someone who doesn’t quite understand their own point.

Strategic storytelling is a completely different animal.

What makes storytelling strategic?

Three things need to line up perfectly:

The right story — chosen deliberately to make a specific point, not because it’s your favourite anecdote.

The right framing — told in a way that sets the context so your audience understands exactly what you want them to take from it.

The right purpose — every story needs a job to do. If it doesn’t serve the presentation, it doesn’t belong in it.

When all three align, a story doesn’t just illustrate your message — it becomes your message. It lands in a way that facts and figures never can.

Think of it like a key in a lock. Any old key won’t do. It has to be precisely cut for that specific door.

The “So What?” factor

Here’s the test every story has to pass before it earns its place in your presentation.

So what?

If the answer isn’t immediately obvious — to you and to your audience — the story isn’t ready. Vague stories with no clear link to the content don’t make speakers look deep and thoughtful. They make them look lost.

Great strategic storytelling means knowing exactly what point each story makes, and building it so the audience arrives at that point naturally, without being pushed.

Finding your stories

This is where it gets interesting — and sometimes surprising.

Most people have far more powerful stories than they realise. They’re sitting in your experience, your career, your life. You’ve lived through things, observed things, heard things that contain genuine insight. The challenge is knowing where to look and what to do with what you find.

In my storytelling coaching we go on a deep dive into your experiences — professional and personal — to uncover the “So What?” hidden inside each one. Some will be stories you’ll use constantly. Others will be powerful but rare. A few will surprise you completely.

It’s a bit like going through old boxes in the attic. You don’t always know what you’ll find until you open them. But once you do, you realise some of those things are gold.

Stories need to fit, not just float

A story isn’t a decoration you sprinkle into a presentation to make it warmer. It has to be a seamless part of the architecture — designed in, not dropped in.

When a story flows naturally from the content around it, the audience doesn’t even notice the join. When it doesn’t, they do. And the moment they notice, you’ve lost them.

Good storytelling coaching teaches you how to build stories into your presentations so they feel inevitable — like they could never have been anywhere else.

Who this is for

If you present to clients, boards, teams, or conferences — and you want your message to actually stick — strategic storytelling is one of the highest-leverage skills you can develop.

Facts inform. Stories move people.

Let’s find yours.