Mieke Eerkens is an award-winning writer with an MFA from The University of Iowa, and has taught narrative writing workshops at all levels for over 15 years. Having worked as a branded content writer, ghost writer, and Communications Specialist, she is passionate about teaching non-writers how to harness the power of narrative for professional and personal empowerment. She teaches narrative writing workshops for creative development as well as for business, including “Storytelling for Impact: Harnessing Narrative Tools in Business” through Culture Vitale.
One spring, the leadership team at a leading footwear brand gathered for their quarterly update. This decades-old company had built its reputation on performance running shoes and enjoyed many loyal customers. Over the previous year, it had invested heavily in a new lifestyle line to compete in a more fashion-driven segment. The new line was attracting attention, but repeat purchases were lower than expected. Market research showed that long-term customers were beginning to question whether the brand was drifting away from the core identity that had originally won their loyalty.
The head of Product opened the meeting with a slide deck. Sales figures were broken down by region, accompanied by pie charts and graphs. Customer acquisition costs were rising. Inventory turnover on the new lifestyle line was slower than forecasted. Marketing followed with campaign metrics. Operations outlined supply chain adjustments. Numbers followed numbers, charts followed charts, fragmented by department and largely absent of shared context.
By all appearances, the meeting had been productive. Everything was presented clearly. Each dataset was accurate. By the end, department heads returned to their teams with new information.
What they did not have, however, was a shared understanding of what was actually happening. In the discussions that followed, different interpretations emerged. Marketing pointed to brand positioning. Product focused on design refinement. Finance raised concerns about margins. Operations looked for efficiencies in supply. No one had a clear sense that they were working toward the same underlying problem.
Two weeks later, the group reconvened. This time, the CEO began with a story.
A long-time runner named John had purchased a pair of the company’s new lifestyle shoes. He liked the design and wore them casually for a few weeks, but returned to his usual running shoes. When asked whether he would buy another pair, he hesitated. He had always associated the company with performance and reliability. The new product looked fine, but John was not sure what it stood for, or how it differed from other lifestyle brands.
The CEO paused, then connected that account to the broader data. Repeat purchases were lagging not because of lack of awareness, but because customers were unclear about the product’s place within the brand. At the same time, core customers were beginning to question whether the company was still focused on performance.
She framed the issue simply. The company was no longer telling a clear, cohesive story about what it made and why.From there, the discussion shifted. Product revisited the intent behind the lifestyle line. Marketing examined how the brand was being described across channels. Operations adjusted expectations based on the product’s role. The data had not changed. The understanding had.
What This Example Illustrates
This example not only goes a bit meta in using a story to illustrate a point by describing events at a hypothetical company, but it demonstrates the power of using narrative tools in business. As a writer, writing coach, and story strategist, I like to describe storytelling as going beyond the who, what, when, and where that most businesses focus on, and weaving in the why and how to help stakeholders understand the big picture and care enough to take action. Adding the why and how takes a company’s function and impact from a purely informational realm into the emotional realm that truly motivates people, from employees to customers and beyond. Storytelling is the difference between informing them and moving them.
The initial meeting in the example described above failed to produce team alignment not because of a lack of expertise, but because each function operated within its own frame of reference, not within a broader narrative. The participants had shared data-driven information, but it was not integrated because there was no understanding across the departments about why and how that mattered to the overarching purpose of the company.
The second meeting introduced a narrative. It began with a concrete example, connected that example to broader patterns, and defined the underlying issue in a way that each function could relate to its own work.
This is the practical application of storytelling in business. It creates a shared frame that allows different types of information to be understood in relation to each other. It shows how important it is for business leaders to answer the questions: Who are we as a company? Why do we exist? How do we want to function? What is our story? And how do I make sure we work together across departments to communicate that central story both internally and externally?
Why Narrative Changes How Information Is Processed
What shifted in the example above is supported by a substantial body of research in cognitive and behavioral science.
Human cognition is not optimized for processing isolated data points. Contextualization within a narrative makes it easier for us to make sense of the data and retain the information well. Studies in cognitive psychology show that people are significantly more likely to retain and recall information when it is presented in a structured sequence with cause and effect. Narrative provides that sequence.
Research from the field of neuroscience further suggests that stories activate multiple areas of the brain, including those associated with sensory experience and emotional processing. This leads to stronger encoding of information.In business contexts, this has important implications for communication both internally across departments, and externally towards stakeholders. It can be useful for employees from the top down to understand that information presented in narrative form is more likely to be remembered and acted upon, that causal storytelling structure reduces misinterpretation across teams, and that contextualized communication improves decision-making speed and confidence. When information is structured into a coherent narrative, even complex or uncertain situations become easier to engage with.
From Data Saturation to Shared Understanding
Many organizations operate in a state of data saturation. Dashboards, reports, and real-time metrics are widely available. The limiting factor is rarely access to more information, or that who, what, when, and where mentioned above. It is the ability to synthesize that information into a shared understanding of the why and how underlying inevitable issues within the company.
Without a unifying structure, different functions interpret the same data through their own priorities. Marketing sees a positioning issue. Product sees a design issue. Finance sees a cost issue. Each perspective is valid, but without integration, alignment becomes difficult.
Narrative acts as that integrating mechanism. In practical terms, this means moving from reporting what is happening to explaining why it is happening and what it means in context. It requires identifying the underlying tension or shift that connects disparate data points.
Narrative as an Organizational Tool
The value in storytelling lies not only in how it improves communication between employees and/or stakeholders, but also in how it shapes their thinking. Organizations that consistently apply narrative structures to their communication tend to show stronger alignment across functions. This is because narrative forces clarity at the level of problem definition. It requires leaders and teams to articulate not just what they are doing, but why.
There is also an impact on engagement. Research in organizational psychology indicates that employees are more likely to feel motivated when they understand why and how their work contributes to a broader purpose.
In fact, storytelling is arguably most effective on a micro level, in the ways that organization team members communicate in daily exchanges such as emails. Research in cognitive neuroscience shows that sensory language and mental imagery activate perceptual and motor regions of the brain, which can increase engagement and make information more memorable, both essential things for cohesion across an organization.
When employees include even a small sensory detail such as a specific visual, physical, or situational description in their communications with others, it triggers a part of the recipient’s brain that mentally simulates what is being described. Using that sensory language and imagery activates perceptual and motor systems, which can increase engagement and improve recall.
But how does an organization implement these narrative structures across its teams and teach employees to think more as storytellers?
Protocols for Applying Narrative in Business
The application of narrative can be applied on a macro level as the company articulates its origin, purpose, and function in society in a narrative framework, as well as on a micro level as employees communicate with one another and external stakeholders in a more effective manner that utilizes storytelling tools for understanding and engagement/motivation.
The following protocols can be integrated by most companies into existing business practices. They may want to consider first training their team leaders to use these tools so that they can pass them onto their teams, followed by company-wide seminars and workshops to help with putting these concepts into practice. The list begins with a foundational writing tool that can be used on a micro level by all employees.
1. Implement some sensory details
Activate an emotional response by weaving in some sensory details in daily communication.
Application: Where appropriate, use a subtle visual, physical, or situational detail to activate the imagination, and help the recipient envision a shared perspective to engage them emotionally. Include a sensory detail to help them mentally simulate what is being described. Example, “We look forward to standing on that stage in Paris on June 12 to launch the new line with you” instead of “We look forward to the trade show happening June 12 in Paris to launch the new line.” It’s a subtle difference that can make a big difference over time.
2. Frame before you present
Before introducing data or recommendations, define the situation. What is the context the audience needs to understand?
Application: Begin meetings and reports with a brief statement of the current state and the key issue at hand.
3. Identify the central tension
Most business challenges involve competing priorities or a change in direction. Identify and make that tension explicit.
Application: Articulate the trade-off or shift that is driving the situation. This becomes the anchor for discussion.
4. Connect data to meaning
Data should not stand alone. It should support a broader explanation.
Application: For each key metric, clarify what it indicates and how it relates to the central issue in clear language that contextualizes the information within the broader narrative.
5. Establish a clear throughline
Avoid presenting disconnected points. Ensure that all elements of communication relate back to a central narrative.
Application: Test presentations and reports by asking how each section reinforces or develops the central narrative.
6. Define implications and next steps
Close the loop by clarifying what the narrative can or should mean in terms of action.
Application: Translate insights into specific decisions, priorities, or areas of focus.
7. Maintain narrative consistency across all levels
Organizational alignment requires repetition and coherence.
Application: Ensure that the same core company story is reflected in executive communication, team updates, and external messaging.
8. Remember the why and how when communicating
Help create emotional engagement, cross-department or internal-external alignment, cohesion, and understanding.
Application: In verbal and written communication with those who are unfamiliar with a department’s core conflict or project, contextualize the information with narrative terms that include not only the who, what, when, and where, but the how and why.
From Communication to Culture
In business environments that prioritize efficiency and data, storytelling is sometimes dismissed as a soft skill or a layer added after the “real” work is done. In practice, the opposite is true. Narrative is not decoration. It is the structure that allows information to be understood, retained, and used both internally among employees, and externally with all stakeholders. Without it, even strong ideas can fail to land.
Over time, the consistent use of narrative shapes organizational culture. It influences how problems are defined, how decisions are communicated, and how individuals interpret their work. The shift from fragmented reporting to structured narrative can do more than improve a single meeting. It creates a shared language for discussing the business.
This is where narrative moves beyond communication and becomes infrastructure. It supports coordination in complex environments where not everyone has access to the same information at the same time.
For leaders and organizations, the practical question is not whether to use storytelling, but how deliberately and consistently it is being applied. In environments defined by complexity and volume of information, the ability to shape that information into coherent narratives on a micro level and a macro level is a tool that can ultimately lead to big payoffs.
Sources
Arslan, A., and J. Kominsky. “Causal Coherence Improves Episodic Memory of Dynamic Events.” Cognition, vol. 266, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106317.
Khdour, N., et al. “The Power of Organizational Storytelling: The Story of a Company in Times of Transformation.” Corporate Governance and Organizational Behavior Review, vol. 7, no. 3, 2023, pp. 204–210. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgobrv7i3p16.
Kosslyn, S. M., G. Ganis, and W. L. Thompson. “Neural Foundations of Imagery.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, vol. 2, no. 9, 2001, pp. 635–642.
Martinez-Conde, S., et al. “The Storytelling Brain.” Journal of Neuroscience, 2019.
Speer, N. K., J. R. Reynolds, K. M. Swallow, and J. M. Zacks. “Reading Stories Activates Neural Representations of Visual and Motor Experiences.” Psychological Science, vol. 20, no. 8, 2009, pp. 989–999.
Zak, Paul J. “Why Inspiring Stories Make Us React.” Cerebrum, 2015. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26034526/.
Further Reading
Hall, Kindra. Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business. HarperCollins, 2019.
Denning, Stephen. The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling. Jossey-Bass, 2011.
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
Zak, Paul J. “Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling.” Harvard Business Review, 2014.