The power of strategic narrative

Andy Raskin, a strategic narrative consultant who began as a coder and later pitched startups, explains how CEOs can use a single story to align marketing, sales, product, fundraising and hiring. The conversation walks through his five-part framework (naming the shift from an old game to a new one, naming the stakes, naming the object of the new game, naming the obstacles, and naming how to overcome them) with examples from Salesforce, Zuora, Gong, 360Learning and Drift.

01Key learnings

• Replace the 'arrogant doctor' pitch (problem, solution, why we're better) with a story that opens by naming a shift from an old game to a new game.
• Name the old game in a few concise words, such as 'transactions' or 'opinions', since compact labels make the shift easy to repeat across channels.
• Show that winners are already playing the new game, and frame the stakes as a clear choice between a very negative and a very positive outcome.
• Name the object of the new game as a short rallying cry, such as 'turn customers into subscribers', which can double as the company's mission.
• Present product challenges as obstacles to the new goal state rather than as problems, which gives them emotional weight before the solution appears.
• Use the narrative as a filter for feature requests: if a request does not help the company win the new game, deprioritize it.
• Test the narrative on a few sales calls first and ask prospects whether the shift and stakes ring true before rolling it out widely.
• Expect the second working session to feel discouraging; treat a rough first draft as a valuable starting point, and have the CEO lead the effort for the strongest results.

02Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.