Why You Need the Story Behind Your Idea
Business storytelling examples from Oxford Saïd
“Don’t just explain your experiment. Tell the story that earns you the green light.”
That was our encouragement to participants in the final module of the Mutual Value course at Oxford Saïd Business School.
The final module invites what might be the hardest task of all:
– Taking everything you’ve learned over 9 modules…
– Filtering what’s relevant to your organisation NOW…
– 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.
Often, course participants mention that our live storytelling coaching is a highlight.
They get to see how their colleagues want to bring the learnings back into their respective organisations. Equally importantly, they get to see how they want to frame it.
They get to practice this storytelling.
Because without a compelling story, your idea won’t get the attention — or the approval — it deserves.
From learning to leading
In module six, we had explored how business storytelling isn’t just a way to “present better.” It’s a tool to:
- Make problems feel urgent
- Turn abstract ideas into relatable action
- Get buy-in without resistance
In this final session, five leaders stepped forward to workshop real business stories.
Here’s the coaching I gave them:
- You don’t need to say everything. Just start with the moment it became real for you.
- No one backs an idea until they feel the problem. That’s what your story is for.
- The goal isn’t to explain your experiment. It’s to get the next conversation.
In other words, the right story doesn’t just clarify your idea.
It helps people care enough to act.
📚 Business storytelling example: Sandra Manolescu at Royal Canin
One story that resonated deeply came from our speaker, Sandra Manolescu, sharing her experience as General Manager at Royal Canin Canada and then as President of Europe.
Sandra led a four-country study — comparing two thriving markets and two struggling ones.
In their worst performing market, all they saw from the outside was declining P&L. But when they peeled back the layers, it turned out they had stopped investing in their partner relationships.
In other words:
With traditional logic, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥.
After all, they were spending less on non-profit making activities.
But the opposite was true…
The markets where they spent most on 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 with their ecosystem were the markets where they performed best.
In the strong markets, retailers, vets, and breeders were actively engaged.
In the weak ones, those partners were burnt out, confused, or disconnected.
This story powerfully made the point:
Healthy partnerships drive healthy business.
And the only way to surface that kind of insight — to defend it, fund it, scale it — is to tell the story behind the numbers.
So: What’s the story behind your idea?
What made the problem real for you — and what do others need to see before they’ll say yes?
This is one of several business storytelling examples shared from Royal Canin and other Mars companies. (Mars pioneered the Economics of Mutuality,
And to make that case inside the organisation, Sandra didn’t lead with metrics.
She led with a story.
From insight to impact
We often think our data, business case, or framework will do the heavy lifting.
But more often than not, your idea only gets traction when you help people see what you saw.
When you show the moment the problem became personal, real, and impossible to ignore.
That’s what the story behind your idea does.
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Jyoti Guptara is a bestselling author, keynote speakerand story strategist. His Story-based consulting and training programs help leaders successfully implement strategy so they and their teams can experience more success with less stress.
Jyoti is a business storytelling expert based in Switzerland. He serves as MD of Europe at Momenta, a global corporate training company.