Once upon a time, a worried manager realised staff were ignoring his instructions. He paid a handsome fee to sages and soothsayers, who advised him to use a compelling tale to season the facts and figures he wanted his team to digest. And so, business storytelling was born and spread throughout the land.
Now even big companies such as Microsoft and Germany’s SAP employ people with the title “chief storyteller”, usually in their marketing or communications teams. Microsoft’s in-house storyteller did the first “interview” with new chief executive Satya Nadella last month. The anodyne video ended with this probing question for the interviewer’s new boss: “Why do you feel Microsoft is going to be successful?” Yet as one FT colleague remarked, the slick official website Microsoft created to tell Mr Nadella’s story will make every other CEO want the same treatment.
When the storytelling trend started, it was easy to dismiss it as a fad. But what started as a colourful way to illustrate a strategy change or persuade customers about a new product has leached into the fabric of companies, with consequences that could distort how they are run. It is a good moment to put storytime back in the nursery.