In leadership, there is a strong and understandable tendency to make decisions based on facts and figures. The more data we can get our hands on, the more we often resolve, the more validated the business story we’re building must be. Rarely do we notice when the stats, measures and plans subsume the story. Metrics matter, but so does our story. To be sure, it matters in that it allows us to look back and claim what we’ve already done. Yet, it also matters for clarifying where we are and where we want to go. A story I heard recently put a powerful visual on this leadership truth. Before I share it, consider the vital role of story in leadership for a moment.
When it came to leadership, Peter Drucker was considered something of a guru. He was often asked to predict which companies in the present were most likely to succeed in the future. In response, Drucker was fond of asking a single, seemingly simple question: What business are you in? It sounds innocuous. The initial response of many leaders was much the same, some version of: “We compete in industry X, with product or service Y, and” as if to validate their answer, “we have a current market share of Z, which we hope to grow to Q in the next 5 years.” While the answer isn’t unimportant, Drucker didn’t place much value on that first reply. What he sought was a deeper response.