Innovation Storytelling Techniques

🚀 Now publicly available 🚀 The Data Innovation Toolkit! And Repository! (✍️ coauthored with Maria Claudia Bodino, Nathan da Silva Carvalho, Marcelo Cogo, and Arianna Dafne Fini Storchi, and commissioned by the Digital Innovation Lab (iLab) of DG DIGIT at the European Commission) 👉 Despite the growing awareness about the value of data to address societal issues, the excitement around AI, and the potential for transformative insights, many organizations struggle to translate data into actionable strategies and meaningful innovations. 🔹 How can those working in the public interest better leverage data for the public good? 🔹 What practical resources can help navigate data innovation challenges? To bridge these gaps, we developed a practical and easy-to-use toolkit designed to support decision makers and public leaders managing data-driven initiatives. 🛠️ What’s inside the first version of the Digital Innovation Toolkit (105 pages)? 👉A repository of educational materials and best practices from the public sector, academia, NGOs, and think tanks. 👉 Practical resources to enhance data innovation efforts, including: ✅Checklists to ensure key aspects of data initiatives are properly assessed. ✅Interactive exercises to engage teams and build essential data skills. ✅Canvas models for structured planning and brainstorming. ✅Workshop templates to facilitate collaboration, ideation, and problem-solving. 🔍 How was the toolkit developed? 📚 Repository: Curated literature review and a user-friendly interface for easy access. 🎤 Interviews & Workshops: Direct engagement with public sector professionals to refine relevance. 🚀 Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Iterative development of an initial set of tools. 🧪 Usability Tests & Pilots: Ensuring functionality and user-friendliness. This is just the beginning! We’re excited to continue refining and expanding this toolkit to support data innovation across public administrations. 🔗 Check it out and let us know your thoughts: 💻 Data Innovation Toolkit: https://lnkd.in/e68kqmZn 💻 Data Innovation Repository: https://lnkd.in/eU-vZqdC #DataInnovation #PublicSector #DigitalTransformation #OpenData #AIforGood #GovTech #DataForPublicGood

Many amazing presenters fall into the trap of believing their data will speak for itself. But it never does… Our brains aren't spreadsheets, they're story processors. You may understand the importance of your data, but don't assume others do too. The truth is, data alone doesn't persuade…but the impact it has on your audience's lives does. Your job is to tell that story in your presentation. Here are a few steps to help transform your data into a story: 1. Formulate your Data Point of View. Your "DataPOV" is the big idea that all your data supports. It's not a finding; it's a clear recommendation based on what the data is telling you. Instead of "Our turnover rate increased 15% this quarter," your DataPOV might be "We need to invest $200K in management training because exit interviews show poor leadership is causing $1.2M in turnover costs." This becomes the north star for every slide, chart, and talking point. 2. Turn your DataPOV into a narrative arc. Build a complete story structure that moves from "what is" to "what could be." Open with current reality (supported by your data), build tension by showing what's at stake if nothing changes, then resolve with your recommended action. Every data point should advance this narrative, not just exist as isolated information. 3. Know your audience's decision-making role. Tailor your story based on whether your audience is a decision-maker, influencer, or implementer. Executives want clear implications and next steps. Match your storytelling pattern to their role and what you need from them. 4. Humanize your data. Behind every data point is a person with hopes, challenges, and aspirations. Instead of saying "60% of users requested this feature," share how specific individuals are struggling without it. The difference between being heard and being remembered comes down to this simple shift from stats to stories. Next time you're preparing to present data, ask yourself: "Is this just a data dump, or am I guiding my audience toward a new way of thinking?" #DataStorytelling #LeadershipCommunication #CommunicationSkills

If you are looking for a roadmap to master data storytelling, this one's for you Here’s the 12-step framework I use to craft narratives that stick, influence decisions, and scale across teams. 1. Start with the strategic question → Begin with intent, not dashboards. → Tie your story to a business goal → Define the audience - execs, PMs, engineers all need different framing → Write down what you expect the data to show 2. Audit and enrich your data → Strong insights come from strong inputs. → Inventory analytics, LLM logs, synthetic test sets → Use GX Cloud or similar tools for freshness and bias checks → Enrich with market signals, ESG data, user sentiment 3. Make your pipeline reproducible → If it can’t be refreshed, it won’t scale. → Version notebooks and data with Git or Delta Lake → Track data lineage and metadata → Parameterize so you can re-run on demand 4. Find the core insight → Use EDA and AI copilots (like GPT-4 Turbo via Fireworks AI) → Compare to priors - does this challenge existing KPIs? → Stress-test to avoid false positives 5. Build a narrative arc → Structure it like Setup, Conflict, Resolution → Quantify impact in real terms - time saved, churn reduced → Make the product or user the hero, not the chart 6. Choose the right format → A one-pager for execs, & have deeper-dive for ICs → Use dashboards, live boards, or immersive formats when needed → Auto-generate alt text and transcripts for accessibility 7. Design for clarity → Use color and layout to guide attention → Annotate directly on visuals, avoid clutter → Make it dark-mode (if it's a preference) and mobile friendly 8. Add multimodal context → Use LLMs to draft narrative text, then refine → Add Looms or audio clips for async teams → Tailor insights to different personas - PM vs CFO vs engineer 9. Be transparent and responsible → Surface model or sampling bias → Tag data with source, timestamp, and confidence → Use differential privacy or synthetic cohorts when needed 10. Let people explore → Add filters, sliders, and what-if scenarios → Enable drilldowns from KPIs to raw logs → Embed chat-based Q&A with RAG for live feedback 11. End with action → Focus on one clear next step → Assign ownership, deadline, and metric → Include a quick feedback loop like a micro-survey 12. Automate the follow-through → Schedule refresh jobs and Slack digests → Sync insights back into product roadmaps or OKRs → Track behavior change post-insight My 2 cents 🫰 → Don’t wait until the end to share your story. The earlier you involve stakeholders, the more aligned and useful your insights become. → If your insights only live in dashboards, they’re easy to ignore. Push them into the tools your team already uses- Slack, Notion, Jira, (or even put them in your OKRs) → If your story doesn’t lead to change, it’s just a report- so be "prescriptive" Happy building 💙 Follow me (Aishwarya Srinivasan) for more AI insights!

“I’m sorry, but we’re not convinced.” That’s what a group of seasoned investors said after listening to a perfectly structured pitch by a VP from a promising fintech startup. This VP had spent three sleepless weeks on the deck. 32 slides. Charts. Graphs. TAM, SAM, SOM. Revenue projections. Burn rate. Customer acquisition cost to lifetime value ratio? Check. He had it all. And yet, something was missing. ⸻ I met him a day later. He looked exhausted. Frustrated. Angry. “I don’t get it,” he said. “They asked for data—I gave it. They wanted clarity—I gave it. They asked tough questions—I had answers.” Then I asked him, “But where was the story?” He frowned. “What story? I’m not here to perform. I’m here to present facts.” Exactly the problem. ⸻ In the next 3 days, we didn’t change the product. We didn’t redesign the slides. We rewrote the narrative. I asked him to start with this: “10 years ago, my father walked into a bank branch. He left confused, embarrassed—and without a loan. He didn’t understand the form. The language. I built this product for people like him. Not for the urban elite—but for the India that still stands in queues.” We layered the pitch with emotional depth. A real origin story. Stories of users. Moments of pain. Moments of possibility. ⸻ He walked into the same investor room again—same faces, same metrics—but this time, something was different. There was silence after his story. Then… one investor leaned forward. “You should’ve started with this last time.” They asked fewer questions. They felt more connected. They saw the vision, not just the numbers. And yes—the deal closed. ⸻ 💡 Here’s the truth most leaders ignore: Data is the skeleton. But storytelling is the soul. People don’t just buy your logic. They buy your why. You’re not pitching numbers. You’re pitching meaning. ⸻ So ask yourself: Are you just informing? Or are you truly influencing? Want to be a Super Hero at work , now how to tell great stories #Storytelling #ExecutivePresence #LeadershipCommunication #PublicSpeaking #InvestorPitch #SoftSkills #BusinessStrategy #CXOContent #CorporateTraining #PersuasionSkills #LinkedInForLeaders #NarrativeStrategy

Under the microscope, tissues and cells look complex and beautiful. But without context, their story can be hard to follow, much like the science behind them. That’s why I’m so passionate about accessible science communication. In biotech and life sciences, breakthroughs like gene editing and cell therapies are extraordinary. But if they’re hidden behind technical language, we miss the chance to inspire, build trust, and show their real-world impact. At Thermo Fisher Scientific, I’ve seen how storytelling can unlock that understanding. We tell stories about the researchers, patients and innovators behind science to bring discoveries to life, use formats like podcasting to make complex topics approachable to spark curiosity beyond the lab, and social media to turn small scientific details into moments of wonder for a broad audience. The communicator’s role is to help people see both the beauty and the meaning behind the work so that people can feel connected to it. The most successful science communicators are shifting their focus from complexity to clarity. 💡 They translate research into stories that resonate with non-scientists. 💡 They highlight the why behind innovation, not just the how. 💡 They use plain language without sacrificing scientific accuracy. When we make science more accessible, we don’t dilute it. We amplify it. And in doing so, we bring more people into the conversation, which is where real impact begins.

I talk to 9 new CXOs almost every week. 7 out of the 9 struggle with this 1 thing: "Connecting Emotionally with Their Audience" This happens because they frequently rely too much on statistics and facts, which makes their speech impersonal and dry. The next thing they know, their capacity to inspire and lead their groups, stakeholders, and clients goes down to 0! And it’s not like they haven’t worked on it. Infact, at least 5 of those CXOs have experimented with different approaches to enhance their public speaking abilities, including going to seminars, reading books, and even rehearsing in front of a mirror. But these attempts were more about technique than on the emotional connection, which eventually made them give up. Once we SWOT analysed it all, finding the right approach was easy for us. What did we do? The Empathy-Driven Communication Approach: → Storytelling: We created gripping stories to illustrate the most important points to make the information memorable and relatable. → Analysis of the Audience: We concentrated on learning about the needs, feelings, and viewpoints of the audience. → Training in Emotional Intelligence: We aimed to improve their capacity to identify, control, and relate to their own feelings as well as those of their audience. The result? → 3X the Influence → 2X the Engagement → Stronger Relationships Today, they have transitioned from being data-driven presenters to influential storytellers who can connect deeply with their audience. Interested in transforming your public speaking skills and becoming an influential leader? DM me “INFLUENCE” P.S. What do you find most challenging about connecting with your audience during a presentation?

Death by Carbon Count. Murdered by Metrics. Spent Saturday morning in the supermarket. Not shopping for groceries. Hunting for proof. Proof that sustainability doesn't have to hide in a 200-page report or get lost in a spreadsheet jungle. I was benchmarking. Looking for brands getting it right, right there on-shelf. Recycled content worn like a badge. Carbon savings turned into conversation starters. Supply chains told as stories worth reading. Earlier that week, I'd sat through a sustainability presentation what might've been the driest sustainability presentation known to man. My mind drifted... Slide after slide of numbers that all blurred together. (anyone that knows me, knows I'm not a numbers person!). Then one simple infographic popped up. A town rebuilding after a storm. Suddenly I wasn't reading data. I was there. That's the power of visual storytelling. And that's exactly what belongs on-pack. Because if sustainability only lives in a strategy deck, it won't reach the people it needs to. It has to show up where it counts. On screen. On shelf. In hand. Consumers don't connect with decimals. But they remember the juice bottle that paired its footprint with its flavour. The chocolate box that gave a factory a face. That's sustainability with a pulse. Told at eye level. Every brand has the data. Recycled content. Sourcing claims. Emission charts. Few turn those numbers into something you can see, feel, or understand at a glance. That's your opportunity. Start with communicating the aim. What's the story? Plastic-free future? Circular design? Local impact? Add then these to the pack in a simple, engaging way. Spell things out. Then show the Actors. The growers. The drivers. The factory floor. Put people on the pack, not just percentages. Frame the Aspiration. Kitchens where scraps become tomorrow's meal. Beaches without litter. Gardens with bees. Paint the picture. Vividly. Visuals stick. Corny but true. Get it right, and your packaging doesn't just exist. It engages, educates and builds trust. What's your packaging saying right now? Message clear, or lost in the bin? _______________________________ Kicking off hashtag#30WildPackagingWins. I'll be posting an example of sustainable packaging every day this month in the run-up to the Sustainable Packaging Summit 📅 When: 10th–12th November 2025 📍 Where: Utrecht, Netherlands If you're into new ideas, new materials, new formats, and the occasional curveball, follow along. Thinking of joining the summit? Use LISAC20 for 20% off tickets. Details in the comments. Hope to see you there! #SPS2025 #SustainablePackagingSummit

As part of the #Q-Shift project with support of the interdisciplinary initiative CHANSE, Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe, Viktor Suter, Charles Ma, Gina P., Dr. Léa Steinacker and I conducted an in-depth study exploring how #Quantum Technology (#QT) is portrayed across media, business, and government narratives. Our goal? To understand how these #narratives shape public #perception and influence the #adoption of this groundbreaking technology. 📊 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: We analyzed 36 government documents, 165 business reports, and 2,331 media articles, revealing that QT is often framed within themes like technical innovation, global conflicts, and societal impact. 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱: Business narratives tend to emphasize the technical aspects and market potential of QT, often overlooking the broader societal implications. 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: Media coverage provides a more balanced view, but still heavily focuses on the technology’s potential without fully addressing social consequences. 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀: Government narratives are largely driven by national strategies and geopolitical competition, especially between the U.S. and China. 💡 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻? The way QT is discussed today will influence how it is integrated into society tomorrow. As we advance, it's crucial to foster well-rounded narratives that not only highlight QT's potential but also consider its societal implications. This balanced approach can help build public trust and guide responsible innovation. You can currently find the full paper “An integrated view of Quantum Technology? Mapping Media, Business, and Policy Narratives“ at 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gh5XKwqk. A German version of the results can also be found in the NZZ: https://lnkd.in/eRutjcYe #QuantumTechnology #Innovation #Research #TechnologyAdoption #PublicPerception

😢 Child's Tearful MRI Experience Inspires Magical 💫 Healthcare Innovation! ✨ When we think about MRIs, we often picture a cold, sterile environment ❄️ that can be intimidating for both adults and children alike. But one man's revolutionary vision is changing that narrative - meet Doug Dietz, an innovation architect at GE HealthCare. ✨ During a hospital visit, Dietz was deeply moved by the sight of a terrified child awaiting an MRI scan. 😰 He learned that a staggering 80% of children needed sedation to cope with the experience. This revelation prompted him to think differently, to ask a pivotal question: “How can we turn the daunting MRI experience into an exciting adventure for kids?” 🤔 🚀🌈 This transformative perspective led to the development of the GE Adventure Series, turning MRI machines into captivating scenes of adventure - from deep-sea diving 🌊🐠 to castle building. The result? A dramatic decrease in pediatric sedation rates, down to a mere 15%, a 90% increase in patient satisfaction scores, and improved machine efficiency. 💡 Now, a visit to the MRI room is an exciting journey into imaginative landscapes, significantly reducing the anxiety and fear associated with these essential medical procedures. Check out how these creative MRI covers, brought to life by Dietz's innovative vision, are turning fear into excitement, and tears into smiles at Michigan Medicine. 🎨😊 Doug Dietz's initiative reminds us of the potential for innovation in healthcare, within both large organizations or emerging startups like CareYaya. It shows us that with a fresh perspective, we can transform daunting experiences into empowering adventures. 💫👏 Here's to more healthcare innovation, and bringing good things to life! 🌟🏥🥳 #HealthcareInnovation #HealthTech #MRIs #GE #PediatricCare

To all founders trying to raise funds or talking to investors - this one’s for you. Last week at Mercury Spheres, I sat in on a storytelling session by Siqi Chen. He broke down what great investor pitches look like. Basically, he broke down any storytelling as a 3-act structure: Act 1: Origin - Tell them how you discovered the problem. - Don’t drop stats - tell a story. - Make the problem feel real, broken, urgent. Act 2: Now - Present your product as the obvious solution. - Show traction. - Make it clear: this is just the beginning. Act 3: Future - This is where most founders fall flat. - Paint the future. - Show them what changes if you win. - Let them see the upside. Let them want a seat at that table. We followed this playbook at Mailmodo, not intentionally at first. We didn’t sell email features. We sold a future where users don’t click away and drop off. That story got us  - Our first users. - Our first investors. - And it still aligns our team today If you want people along to build your future, make them believe in your story.