The power of strategic narrative | Andy Raskin

Brought to you by Coda —Meet the evolution of docs | Lenny’s Job Board —Hire the best product people. Find the best product gigs | Eco —Your most rewarding app — Andy Raskin helps CEOs align their leadership teams around a strategic narrative—a single story that powers success in sales, marketing, product, fundraising, and recruiting. His clients include Gong, Dropbox, Uber, Salesforce, Square, and IBM. In today’s episode, we discuss: • What a strategic narrative is, and how to craft one • How having a strategic narrative can bring alignment to your entire company • Examples of strategic narratives in action • Who needs a strategic narrative and who doesn’t • Why Andy thinks about movements instead of categories — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-power-of-strategic-narrative — Where to find Andy Raskin: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyraskin/ • Website: https://www.andyraskin.com/ • Podcast: https://andyraskin.com/podcast/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Andy’s background (08:03) What is a strategic narrative? (10:34) How Salesforce would have pitched the old way (12:02) Examples of a strategic narrative in action (15:23) How one piece of writing skyrocketed Andy’s career (16:40) The power of writing online (17:53) Two paths to writing online (19:27) Naming the old game (20:59) Naming the stakes (23:29) Naming the objective (25:17) Naming the obstacles (26:35) Overcoming the obstacles (26:57) How the strategic narrative parallels the hero’s journey (28:25) Telling one story well vs. being a good storyteller (29:18) The 5-step framework summarized (31:33) An example of the 5-step framework in action (36:12) The impact of shifting to the strategic narrative approach (39:08) Companies that are nailing their strategic narrative (40:36) Why Andy thinks about movements instead of categories (44:15) Should every company have a strategic narrative? (46:33) Signs that something is broken in your strategic narrative (48:53) Steps to get started on your own (51:36) How to reach Andy (51:53) Why the second session is the low point in the process (55:30) Why the CEO needs to be part of the process (57:40) Lightning round — Referenced: • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ • Marc Benioff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff/ • Zuora: https://www.zuora.com/ • The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-greatest-sales-deck-ive-ever-seen-4f4ef3391ba0 • Gong: https://www.gong.io/ • Tien Tzuo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tientzuo/ • Want a Better Pitch? Master the “Move”: https://medium.com/firm-narrative/want-a-better-pitch-master-the-move-5fbee071ca7f • Star Wars : https://www.starwars.com/ • The Hero with a Thousand Faces: https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936 • 360Learning: https://360learning.com/ • Nick Hernandez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoconut/ • Amit Bendov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbendov/ • Drift: https://www.drift.com/ • OneTrust: https://www.onetrust.com/ • “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott: https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/pamela.golden/engl2327/shitty-first-drafts-by-anne-lamott/view • Story : https://www.amazon.com/Story-Substance-Structure-Principles-Screenwriting/ • Out of Sheer Rage : https://www.amazon.com/Out-Sheer-Rage-Wrestling-Lawrence/ • Station Eleven : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10574236/ • Fitbit: https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/home • Apple Watch: https://www.apple.com/watch — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe