The power of strategic narrative | Andy Raskin

May 28, 2023 1h 2m 16 insights Episode Page ↗
This episode features Andy Raskin, an expert who helps CEOs align teams with a strategic narrative. He explains why traditional product pitching is ineffective and how a simple story about a world shift can unify efforts across sales, marketing, and product.
Actionable Insights

1. Define Movement, Not Solutions

Frame your product pitch around a “shift from the old game to the new game” to define a movement, rather than just solving a problem. This approach helps align sales, marketing, product, fundraising, and hiring efforts.

2. Strategic Narrative as North Star

Develop a single “strategic narrative” that acts as a North Star for your company. This story should guide your product roadmap, fundraising, recruiting, marketing, and sales efforts.

3. Concise Naming for World Shift

When defining the “old game to new game” shift, use concise and impactful names for both the old and new states (e.g., “transactions to subscriptions”). This compact naming is crucial for clarity and impact, even if it sacrifices some completeness.

4. Name the Stakes for Urgency

“Name the stakes” by showing winners who are already playing the new game and making the future outcome feel “life and death” for the prospect. This creates emotional urgency, splitting the future into very negative and potentially very positive outcomes.

5. Define New Game’s Object

Define the “object of the new game” as a concise rallying cry or mission statement (e.g., “turn customers into subscribers”). This serves as the company’s mission and a clear, simple goal for the new movement.

6. Frame Object as a Question

Frame the “object of the new game” as a question (e.g., “What would it take to turn every customer into a subscriber?”) to engage the audience. This brings them along as co-adventurers in crafting the story, making the narrative more interactive.

7. Clearly Articulate Obstacles

After defining the new game’s object, clearly articulate the obstacles that prevent achieving it. This highlights the challenge and provides crucial context for why your solution is necessary.

8. Present Product as “Magic Gifts”

Present your product’s features and success stories as “magic gifts” that help overcome the previously defined obstacles. This positions your solution within the larger narrative of winning the new game.

9. CEO Must Lead Narrative

Ensure the CEO actively leads and drives the strategic narrative process, not just in name, by being deeply involved in drafting and refining it. This ensures company-wide alignment and provides essential “air cover” for all departments.

10. Test Narrative in Sales Calls

Test your strategic narrative early and often by introducing it into sales calls and observing if prospects resonate with it. Train salespeople to ask questions like “Am I crazy or are you seeing this?” to gauge its impact and gather qualitative feedback.

11. Narrative Guides Product Roadmap

Use the strategic narrative as a “strategic North Star” for product development, serving as a clear bar to prioritize feature requests and guide the product roadmap. This helps filter out features that do not align with the core movement.

12. Avoid “Arrogant Doctor” Pitch

Do not use the “Arrogant Doctor” pitch, which focuses on your solution being better than others, as it is no longer effective and sets you up for bragging. Instead, focus on a larger market shift.

13. Prioritize Story Over Category

Avoid solely focusing on creating a “category name” as a magical solution for differentiation. Instead, prioritize developing a compelling “old game, new game” story, as the narrative itself is more impactful than just a category label.

14. Embrace “Shitty First Draft”

Embrace the concept of a “shitty first draft” when developing your strategic narrative, as getting an initial, imperfect version out is more valuable for refinement than having many unformed ideas. Be prepared for this to be a painful but necessary step.

15. Recognize Narrative Need for Work

Recognize signs your strategic narrative needs work, such as when company growth outpaces founders’ “brute force” involvement, when expanding through acquisitions or new product units requires a larger story, or when a market pivot necessitates a new direction.

16. Slide Titles as Takeaways

For presentations, ensure each slide title is the main takeaway, not just a label (e.g., “Our Team are Industry Veterans” instead of “The Team”). This allows the audience to immediately grasp the slide’s core message without extra effort.