CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARYThis presentation, including any supporting materials, is owned by Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is for the sole use of the intended Gartner audience or other intended recipients. This presentation may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or otherwise legally protected, and it may not be further copied, distributed or publicly displayed without the express written permission of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Summit 2017

José Ruggero

The Art of Story Telling: Turning Your Strategy Into an Action Adventure

Gartner Event Summit

Midsize Enterprise Summit Fall San Antonio TX

1 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

You're a Star!

Let's make your strategy a blockbuster!

2 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Your strategy is an action adventure

noun strat·e·gy \-jē\:Strategy

Your strategy is a story about how you plan your journey from the current moment to some desired future outcome.

It's how you fulfill your mission.

IT strategy is about how IT will help the enterprise win.

A careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time — Merriam-Webster Dictionary

3 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Communication ≠ Understanding

It’s Generic

Common Strategy Problems You Can Solve With Storytelling

It’s Vague

It’s Inside Out

4 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Start Here

What's your main idea?

What do you want your audience to

THINK, FEEL or DOas a result of your story?

5 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

The Three Act Structure — SimplifiedThe CAR Framework

Context

A hero/protagonist w/ a

clear goal or catalyst

Action

A clear antagonist or

other threat

Result

A goal achieved or

conflict resolved

6 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Star Wars

Luke Skywalker, a simple farm boy who wants to become a

fighter pilot. He discovers a holographic message from a

princess in distress.

His family is killed by the evil empire (antagonist) which

sets him on his journey of adventure to save the girl and

defeat the antagonist.

He befriends a group of allies, learns to use his Jedi and

fighter pilot skills to save the galaxy from destroying the

antagonist's planetary killing machine.

A

C

R

7 © 2016 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

The Action Adventure

▪ The adventure story, is an action plot — it is a

physical journey

▪ The focus is the journey — going to the brink of

danger and returning safely

▪ The protagonist is perfectly fitted for the

adventure

▪ The locations are anything but the mundane world

8 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Finance Example

Managing suppliers and freight is complicated, many have

different terms, cash flow is hard to manage.

Machine learning is embedded in many new ERP systems but

our old legacy application is considered OK, no one wants to

invest in new, nothing scales.

Implementing postmodern ERP identified the best payment

terms with your suppliers your associates have better

information, cash flow improves, collaboration improves.

C

A

R

9 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Insurance Example

‘Sharing Medical Information between relevant parties is extremely

difficult – patients are often affected too!..C

A

R

The number of unnecessary medical examinations fell, administrative costs declined and the quality of service improved

Share patients’ medical information between relevant parties using a Blockchain platform

10 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

CONTEXT ACTION RESULT

When, Where, Who?

What’s desired?

What’s in the way?

What happened?

Ups and downs.

Realizations.

Winners and losers

Moral of the story

Conclusion –why you told

the story

11 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

! ?

TodayIn 3 to 5

years

12 © 2016 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Tips to Help You With Storytelling

Write

Edit

"The idea is to write so that

people hear it and it slides

through the brain and goes

straight to the heart."

Maya Angelou

13 © 2016 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Tips to Help You With Storytelling

"To avoid criticism say nothing,

do nothing, be nothing."

- Aristotle

Write

Screen

14 © 2016 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Tips to Help You With Storytelling

"Kill your darlings, kill your

darlings, even when it breaks

your egocentric little scribbler's

heart, kill your darlings."

- Stephen King

- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Write

Screen Edit

15 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Action Plan for MSE CIOs

Monday Morning:

▪ Start writing – get your ideas on paper and aim for the heart..

Next 90 Days:

▪ Practice with small audiences before you release your blockbuster , use a working copy and review and discuss with key stakeholders first.

Next 12 Months:.

▪ Identify your biggest opportunity to use storytelling to support a business challenge, one that really matters, and start putting the story together to make it happen

16 © 2017 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Recommended Gartner Research

Storytelling in Three Acts: A Guide to Persuasive Communications

"Use Storytelling to Bolster Your Security Communications Plans"

"The Art of the One Page Strategy”

Languages of Change: Innovation and Creative Thinking Require

Challenging What You Know

For more information, stop by Gartner Research Zone.