Unlock the art of storytelling to grow.

I have always thought that effective communication is about connecting with people on an emotional level rather than a showcase of technical brilliance or precision.

Based on the many TED talks I have listened to, I asked myself: Why is it interesting to listen to some people, while others put you right off to sleep, even before the main subject is discussed.

After consuming a lot of content from various mediums I eventually came to the conclusion that a story based delivery of thought is much more effective than simply just reciting numbers and facts.

Since then, I have tried it with varying levels of success in the past and it has worked every time.

But I am not writing this to give you ‘gyan’, I am here to tell you a story that happened to me a few weeks ago in Sweden that will truly show the power of storytelling.

I had recently changed to a different employer and was at one of my first client meetings. I was going to / told to follow the usual script that was in place and it was meant to be your “usual-in-and-out-head-to-the-airport-and-take-the-flight-back-home” kind of meeting.

But everything turned out differently!

There was a part of my presentation which was rather raw and technically difficult to explain in the time I had. My initial idea was to dumb it down and create an hypothetical narrative around the concept, but as the meeting went on, it was clear me to that the customer was not interested in blueprints or hypotheticals they wanted real world results (lesson one: read the room). Clearly the narrative I had prepped was not going to impress the audience. So I decided to pivot to Storytelling (lesson two: improv), and this is how I started:

“There is this really cool solution that I would like to talk about that we implemented for one of our clients. The client had two simple asks, xxxx and yyyy…”

The audience, including my colleagues, were staring at me, not looking at what was on the screen. I had their attention and I had to now build on this. This is the point where eye contact is very crucial and I had to draw in my audience, ideally into a discussion so they them themselves become part of the solution. And so what was intended to be a presentation became a lively discussion about how we ran the workshops and created result based milestones.

In the meanwhile the numbers and bullet points on the slides were completely ignored. We had connected at a human level. Leaving out the details, these slides, which were supposed to run for 5 mins became the highlight of the presentation.

In a world of specs, features, and endless PowerPoint slides, one skill sets apart the truly influential professionals in technical sales and technology architecture: Storytelling.

As most of you, I (we) would usually present a number of slides (usually more than the recommended - we can jump over some of them) packed with bullet points and acronyms ( don’t worry we won’t be reading the slides it is just so the client has something to read afterwards - like they are ever going to read them!). And now let’s be honest: How much of that presentation did anyone remember? Including yourself?

Now, think of a time when someone told a story, maybe a customer's journey, a technology transformation, or even a failure that turned into success. Do you remember that?

That's the power of storytelling. That’s my story above and I will not be looking back.

Human beings are wired for stories. Long before we had spreadsheets and dashboards; long before we had scripture; we passed knowledge through stories around the fire. Most of Indian (my) culture is passed down from generations to generation through stories. There is are no books to follow. Our brains are naturally drawn to structure, emotion, and relatability. A well-told story activates more areas of the brain than a slide deck ever will. Some cultures even today, like mine, use storytelling as a way to transmit history to the next generations.

In technical sales, storytelling makes abstract ideas concrete. It helps your customer see themselves as part of the solution. In technology architecture, storytelling allows you to explain complexity in ways that stakeholders, both technical and non-technical can understand and engage with.

So next time you are putting your pitch together, instead of saying:

"Our solution improves data throughput by 43% while reducing latency by 19% using a scalable microservices architecture..."

Try this:

"Last year, one of our customers was losing shipments due to delays in their tracking system. We helped them rebuild their backend with microservices. Not only did the system get faster, they stopped losing orders. Within 3 months, their NPS jumped 20 points."

The first version might win an award for precision but the second version not only wins attention and trust, it also sounds less like a sales pitch because it is a relatable and true story.

Here’s another example. Picture this: A slide appears titled “Cloud Migration Benefits” with five bullet points:

Now compare that with a story:

"We worked with a retail chain who’s website used to crash every Black Friday. One year, they finally said: enough! We helped them migrate to a hybrid cloud model in time for the next season. That year, their site handled 3x the traffic and sales went through the roof. Their CIO later joked, 'That was the first Black Friday I actually slept through.'"

That story doesn’t just sell the cloud. It sells the feeling of relief, of confidence, of success.

In the age of AI, cloud-native platforms, and digital transformation and modernisation, the technology itself is often not the differentiator. Your ability to convey why it matters, to the customer, to their business, to their future, is what drives decisions.

Storytelling isn’t fluff. It’s strategy.

Whether you’re a solutions architect presenting a blueprint, or a technical salesperson trying to land a deal, remember: people don’t buy diagrams. They buy outcomes. They buy visions. They buy stories. They need to be given a reason to choose you and see you as their best chance to achieve their goals.

So the next time you're tempted to open PowerPoint, consider opening with a story instead. Because whoever tells the best story, wins the room.

Until next time,

“There is a certain peace that comes with knowing less and choosing better.”