Every couple of weeks, I catch up with my friend (and former Google teammate) Caitlin. On one of those calls, she mentioned that the CEO at her healthcare startup had recommended Building a StoryBrand to the entire company.

I immediately ordered it and read it in three days.

The premise of the book is that businesses fail to connect with customers when their message is unclear, confusing, or focused on themselves (rather than the customer’s needs).

And I realized… analysts make the same mistakes all the time.

We frame our work like we are the main character:

• Look at this cool analysis I ran…

• Here’s what I found in the data…

• I built this dashboard to show…

But your audience doesn’t care about your analysis. They care about their problems, goals, and wins. If you want your insights to land, make your audience the hero.

Be the guide, not the hero

In StoryBrand, Donald Miller explains there’s only room for one hero in a story, and in your audience’s mind, it’s them.

Your role is the guide. Your job is to bring clarity, offer a plan, and help the hero win.

5 ways to make your audience the hero

1. Start with their goals

Before you build or analyze anything, ask:

• What decision are they trying to make?

• What problem are they solving?

• What does success look like to them?

Instead of: “Here’s everything I found in the data.”
Try: “You mentioned you want to speed up onboarding. Here’s what could help.”

2. Show how your insights move them forward

Like heroes, your audience has a goal in mind. Position your insights as the thing that helps them get there.

Instead of: “We saw a 12% drop in conversion after Week 2.”
Try: “Here’s one strategy to improve current conversion rates and hit your quarterly target.”

3. Offer a clear next step

Don’t just explain the problem, suggest a path forward:

• “Let’s pilot this with Team A.”

• “First step: update the email copy and track open rates.”

• “Want me to draft a slide for your QBR deck?”

4. Center your language on them

Scan your work for phrases like “I found” or “my analysis shows.” Reframe to focus on their outcomes:

• “What this means for your team is…”

• “If your goal is to reduce churn, focus here.”

• “This could help you make a stronger case for headcount.”

5. Listen more than you talk

The best guides ask great questions and adapt:

• “What’s most important to you right now?”

• “So you’re focused on hiring faster and improving quality of hire?”

• “Here are 3 options. Do any feel like the right fit?”

Bottom line

If you can shift from “Here’s what I did” to “Here’s how this helps you,” you’ll notice two things: (1) People act on your insights faster, and (2) they start coming to you earlier, because they trust you get what matters to them.

See you next week,
Morgan