Storytelling with data
AA: When teams have gone away and produced fantastic results, we hear about the importance of the data story coming into play – the whole notion of data storytelling to translate those results into what the business understands, especially at senior levels. How important do you think data storytelling is, and what are some key ways to develop the skills necessary to be adept at it?
KS: I cannot stress enough the importance of being able to tell a story so people can understand it, but when I say “data storytelling,” it’s not just trying to translate math to English; that’s obviously the most important part. It involves not only trying to keep giving insights but also connecting the insights to something they can appreciate.
The Ferrari example is an example of storytelling. The other one I often use is this: there is this old mayor of a town, and he grew up in the town. It’s a famous beach town. People used to come...