Storytelling: the most underrated Growth Skill

For the last decade, growth has been framed as a numbers game.

Dashboards. Funnels. Cohorts. CAC, LTV, ROAS.If you couldn’t read a chart or run an experiment, you didn’t belong in the room.

And yes — analytics matters. Deeply.

But after working in global product and growth roles, across Europe, the US, and Asia, I’ve learned something that still doesn’t get enough airtime:

The fastest-growing teams don’t win because they have better data.They win because they tell better stories with it.

The most underrated growth skill today isn’t analytics.

It’s storytelling.

Data Doesn’t Drive Growth. Belief Does.

Most organizations don’t suffer from a lack of data.

They suffer from:

• Too many dashboards

• Too many interpretations

• Too many teams pulling in slightly different directions

Everyone is “data-driven,” yet alignment is fragile.

Why?

Because data doesn’t create momentum on its own.People do.

And people don’t rally around spreadsheets.They rally around meaning.

Growth only happens when teams believe in a direction strongly enough to act consistently over time.

That belief is built through storytelling.

What Storytelling Actually Means in Growth

When people hear “storytelling,” they often think:

• Marketing slogans

• Brand campaigns

• Creative copy

That’s not what I’m talking about.

In a growth context, storytelling is the ability to:

• Turn data into narratives

• Explain complexity simply

• Align teams around one message

• Sell internally before selling externally

It’s the skill that sits between insight and execution.

And without it, even the best strategy dies quietly in a slide deck.

1. Turning Data Into Narratives (Not Charts)

Most growth teams present what happened.

Great growth leaders explain why it matters.

There’s a huge difference.

Bad growth storytelling:

“Activation dropped 8% in cohort B.”

Good growth storytelling:

“New users are hitting friction earlier because our value promise isn’t clear enough in the first 30 seconds. We’re asking for commitment before we’ve earned trust.”

The data didn’t change.The meaning did.

Narratives help teams answer:

• What problem are we actually solving?

• Who is affected?

• What decision does this unlock?

Without that narrative layer, data stays academic.

With it, data becomes directional.

2. Explaining Complexity Simply (Without Dumbing It Down)

Growth is messy.

Multiple channels. Multiple markets. Multiple constraints.No single metric tells the full story.

The temptation is to explain everything.

But clarity doesn’t come from adding more information.It comes from editing.

Strong storytellers in growth know how to:

• Zoom out before zooming in

• Anchor discussions around one core insight

• Say “this matters more than that” — explicitly

Simplicity is not ignorance.It’s leadership.

If your explanation needs 20 minutes and 40 slides, you don’t yet understand the story yourself.

3. Aligning Teams Around One Message

Growth rarely fails because of bad ideas.

It fails because:

• Product hears one story

• Marketing hears another

• Sales tells a third version to customers

Suddenly, the “growth strategy” is technically correct — and practically useless.

Storytelling is what creates shared context.

The best growth leaders obsess over:

• Repeating the same message consistently

• Using the same language across teams

• Protecting the narrative from unnecessary complexity

Alignment doesn’t happen once.It’s reinforced through repetition.

A clear story, told often, beats a brilliant strategy explained once.

4. Selling Internally Before Selling Externally

This one is uncomfortable, especially for analytically minded teams.

Growth is persuasion.

Before customers ever see a product:

• Engineers need to believe in the problem

• Designers need to feel the tension

• Leadership needs confidence to invest

• Sales needs conviction to sell

If you can’t sell the idea internally, you won’t sell it externally.

Internal storytelling answers questions like:

• Why this problem now?

• Why this solution?

• Why us?

Data supports the story — but it doesn’t replace it.

Strategy Only Works If People Believe in It

This is the part many teams underestimate.

A strategy can be:

• Logically sound

• Backed by data

• Aligned with company goals

And still fail.

Why?

Because strategy doesn’t execute itself.

People do — imperfectly, emotionally, under pressure.

Belief is what turns intent into action:

• Belief that the problem is real

• Belief that the approach makes sense

• Belief that the pain of change is worth it

Storytelling is how belief scales.

Why This Matters More Today Than Ever

Growth today is harder than it used to be.

• Channels are saturated

• Marginal gains are smaller

• Teams are more distributed

• Attention is fragmented

Pure optimization won’t save you.

What differentiates strong growth leaders now is not who runs the cleanest experiment —but who creates coherence in complexity.

Storytelling is how you:

• Cut through noise

• Make trade-offs explicit

• Keep teams moving in the same direction when results aren’t immediate

In uncertain environments, stories travel faster than certainty.

The Quiet Advantage of Great Storytellers

Here’s the irony:

The best storytellers in growth often don’t call themselves storytellers.

They say things like:

• “I’m just connecting the dots.”

• “I’m trying to make this easier to understand.”

• “I want everyone aligned before we move.”

But over time, you notice something:

Their teams move faster.Their decisions stick longer.Their strategies survive contact with reality.

Not because they had more data —but because they made the data meaningful.

So… What Skill Matters Most in Growth Today?

Analytics is table stakes.Execution is essential.Strategy is critical.

But the multiplier is storytelling.

Because growth doesn’t happen when you’re right.

It happens when enough people believe you’re right — long enough to act on it.

Curious:What skill do you think matters most in growth today — and why?