Why Storytelling Still Wins in a Data-Driven World: Lessons from EU Business School
- Raj Hayer
- Oct 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 10
Every year, our founder and CEO, Raj Hayer, has the pleasure of teaching at the EU Business School, donating her time to help the next generation of leaders find their voice.
Why storytelling? Because despite our world being powered by algorithms and automation, stories remain the most human currency we have. As an executive coach and founder of TinyBox Academy, she has worked with leaders at Dassault Systèmes, Allianz Capital Partners, Google Cloud, VDMA, and more. She has seen that the one thing that connects boardrooms, classrooms, and TEDx stages is not slides, stats, or AI prompts. It's real, human stories.
Learning the art of storytelling early in your career is one of the most valuable skills you can develop. Whether you’re preparing for job interviews, pitching a business idea, building a personal brand, or simply trying to stand out in a crowded world, the ability to communicate with clarity, purpose, and emotion gives you a powerful edge.
Facts inform, but stories influence. Students who know how to share their journey, their values, and their ideas through story are already thinking like leaders. They create stronger connections, build trust faster, and inspire more action.
And that’s why she reminds the students:
AI can generate content, but only humans can tell stories that move other humans.
In a world increasingly driven by AI and automation, human skills are becoming more, not less, valuable. Employers and investors are looking for people who can connect the dots between data and meaning, between information and impact. That’s what storytelling does. It gives students the tools to show not just what they’ve done, but why it matters. And perhaps most importantly, it helps them stay grounded in who they are, even as they grow into the professionals they’re becoming.
Storytelling Isn’t Dying, It’s Evolving
It’s easy to assume that storytelling is being replaced by technology. ChatGPT can write posts, generate pitches, even invent fictional narratives. But when someone stands in front of an audience, whether it’s a group of investors, a podcast microphone, or a classroom, and tells a true story that comes from within, it creates a kind of buy-in that no machine can replicate.
"If I say, "I had heart surgery at 23" – that's a fact. But when I tell the full story, when I bring them into that moment on a hike in Victoria, BC, how it felt, how it changed me, it stops being a medical fact and starts becoming something people can connect to emotionally."
That’s what great storytelling does. It takes facts and transforms them into feelings.
Even in her TEDx talk, Addicted to AI: A Patient’s Perspective on Big Data and Technology, which has over 127,000 views, the majority of comments focus not on the technical explanation of AI or data ethics, but on the personal story she shares at the beginning. That story resonated because it was honest. It was human.
We often forget that we are the business. Whether you’re a founder pitching to investors or a leader driving cultural change in your company, your story is what differentiates you.
Everyone has expertise to share. Everyone has lived experiences. The difference between a forgettable post and an inspiring message often comes down to one thing, how well you tell the story behind it.
Stories stick because they’re relatable. Whether it’s a use case in the boardroom or a case study at Harvard Business School, the structure is the same. People don’t remember the pitch deck, they remember the transformation. As she shares with students, if you want to amplify your impact, whether on LinkedIn, podcasts, video, stage, or with your team, you need to master storytelling.
What Makes a Good Story?
There are three core ingredients to a powerful story:
A clear transformation
A relatable emotional core
A strong opening hook
The purpose of storytelling isn’t to sound clever, it’s to build trust, inspire belief, and drive action. In a world of short attention spans, how you start matters most. In those first few seconds, the audience decides whether to tune in or tune out. The best way to start? Share your punchline up front, then use the story to back it up.
Think of the TED Talk by Simon Sinek – Start With Why. He didn’t begin with a list of credentials or research. He opened with a powerful question: “Why do some companies inspire and others don’t?” That question is the story’s central idea and hooked us instantly. Then he spent the rest of the talk explaining it. Every strong story revolves around a moment of change. Identify that moment first, then build your story around it.
The same thing goes for storytelling in business. For example, when Airbnb pitched to investors, they didn’t lead with numbers or market projections. They told a story about three broke guys renting out an air mattress in their apartment to cover rent. It was authentic, it was relatable, and it made the problem feel real.
Investors don’t fund abstract ideas, they fund stories they believe in. Contrast that with WeWork, whose IPO deck was full of vague language and lofty claims like “elevating global consciousness.” There was no clear transformation, no emotional hook, no human story. And we all know how that ended.
Even in highly technical spaces, whether you’re presenting in a boardroom or pitching a product, if you are sharing competitive analysis or the company numbers, it is the stories that create the meaning behind the numbers, i.e. Why are customers not buying? How are competitors marketing to convince new customers?
As Raj shared with the students:
Be honest, not polished. Be human, not perfect.
People will connect with your truth faster than with your credentials. Let the transformation be the hero.
Three Stages of Story Preparation
Like any great performance, impactful storytelling requires:
Preparation. What’s your intent? What do you want your audience to feel or do?
Practice. Rehearse your story until it feels natural, not memorised.
Presentation. When the moment comes, you will have prepared and practiced enough that you can now focus on connecting with your audience. That’s the goal.
And remember, if your PowerPoint fails or the mic cuts out, if you’ve practiced well, you’re still ready to present, because your story isn’t in the slides. It’s in you. Studies show that 93 percent of emotional communication is non-verbal. That’s why presence matters when you are presenting and you can’t be present if you are worried about the content.
And finally remember, not everyone is your audience. And that’s a good thing. The right story will attract the right people. The wrong people will move on. That’s alignment. That’s authenticity. And that’s what makes your story powerful.
So here is the final question: What is your story going to be?
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