Over 800,000 people have been laid off this year, but you didn’t see many boycotts or hashtags about those folks. Then Jimmy Kimmel, an incredibly wealthy entertainer gets taken off the air and people who don’t even watch his show are galvanized to cancel their Disney+ subscriptions in droves.
Why?
Because the story of injustice (or justice depending on your perspective) is far more powerful a motivator than data. Regardless of your views on this particular event, the fact that the suspension itself became a national story shows how powerful narrative can be. Meanwhile, hardworking families are losing income. The number of Americans who have been unemployed for over six months is rising, but it doesn’t register. Because one data point can be countered with another data point. (“Sure, people are being laid off but the unemployment rate is at historic lows!”)
The rate of layoffs is big, the impact is real, yet it has not captured attention the way one wealthy television host losing his job for a week did. This demonstrates how people do not connect to data the way they connect to story. The suspension was personal. It carried risk and emotional consequence. It moved people at the belief level.
So why don’t leaders lean into storytelling more often?
We have worked with leaders of 100-person companies and of the Fortune 10. Many of them struggle to leverage the power of story to motivate their employees. They are stuck in the action trap of direction action, measuring progress, and adjusting strategies. Executives lean on metrics because they are measurable and concrete. Metrics matter. But data does not inspire belief. A chart can tell you what is happening. A story shows you why it matters and what role you play in changing it.
One of the clearest examples comes from our client history when we worked with Ocean Spray in 2011. Their Kenosha Wisconsin plant was failing. Safety performance was poor. Costs were the highest in the network. Morale had bottomed out. Union relations were hostile.
In walks Tim, the new plant manager who was given 18 months to turn things around or close up shop. Instead of starting with numbers, he gave his employees a story. At his first meeting he held up a picture of a rusty Volkswagen. He told employees this was how senior leaders at Ocean Spray saw their plant. The message was clear. This was their reputation. Then he showed them a picture of a brand new Porsche Carrera GT convertible. He told them this was who they were going to become.
He printed the Porsche as a large puzzle and hung it in the cafeteria. Each milestone earned another piece of the puzzle that would eventually cover the Volkswagen. Progress became visible. Employees were not chasing a line on a chart. They were fighting to replace one story with another.
The Kenosha plant transformed. Safety incidents fell by 75 percent. Costs dropped to the lowest in the network. Morale improved so much that the plant was voted the best place to work in the county. Employees still talk about that story more than a decade later. They remember the broken Volkswagen and the Porsche puzzle. That story created pride, ownership, and belief.
People respond to human experience, not statistics. Stories are an experience and they can make problems real and solutions possible. Leaders who connect results to a narrative unlock commitment that charts and dashboards alone never can.
If you are leading through disruption, remember that your strategic plans and KPIs will not inspire your people. Charts will not create belief. People will not change behavior because of a quarterly report. They will only change when they see themselves inside a story that matters. Tim did not hide the truth about Kenosha. He put the broken Volkswagen on the wall. But he also gave his employees the Porsche puzzle as a vision to strive for. That story created alignment and accountability.
Storytelling is not a soft skill. It is the bridge between data and results. Leaders who understand that truth do not just measure change. They create it.
Elsewhere In Culture
https://www.axios.com/2025/09/22/trump-tariffs-immigration-ceos
A new Yale survey shows many CEOs privately believe recent White House policies are harming their businesses, yet few are willing to speak about it publicly. This is less about politics and more about culture. When leaders work in an environment where the experience is defined by fear of retribution or being marginalized, the belief becomes “stay quiet.” That belief shapes actions of silence and avoidance, even when there is broad agreement behind closed doors. The result is stalled progress despite shared concerns.
The lesson is clear. Results are never only about strategy or policy, they are shaped by the culture leaders create. When silence dominates, accountability fades and clarity disappears. To change outcomes, leaders must foster environments where beliefs encourage transparency and actions reinforce ownership. In every setting, whether corporate, civic, or governmental, cultures rooted in fear lead to inaction while cultures grounded in clarity and accountability create results.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tylenol-murders-crisis-communications-trump-autism-claims-2025-9
When the Tylenol murders happened in the 1980s, Johnson & Johnson made a choice that became legendary in corporate culture. They recalled every bottle, costing themselves millions, because protecting consumers mattered more than protecting quarterly profits. That decision, and the story they told about it afterward, became a decades-long testament to integrity. It shaped how the public viewed not just Tylenol, but Johnson & Johnson’s entire culture. It’s still studied in business schools because it showed that values, when put into action, can save a brand from collapse.
Now, Tylenol faces another reputational test—this time not from poison in the bottles but from President Trump’s repeated claims that acetaminophen could be linked to autism. The science doesn’t support those claims, and Kenvue, Tylenol’s current owner, is responding quickly with clear messaging. But reputational damage has a way of sticking even when the facts are on your side. (See the article on stories above.) What will be interesting is whether Kenvue follows the same path J&J once did: leaning into transparency, anchoring their story in safety, and showing through action what kind of culture they want to be known for. Because once again, this isn’t just about a product. It’s about whether people can trust the brand behind it.