1091: How to Persuade and Motivate Action through Compelling Data Stories with Mike Cisneros

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How to be Awesome at Your Job

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4.5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike Cisneros shares principles for turning graphs into persuasive stories.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) Why analysis alone won’t persuade

2) The antidote for complex and overwhelming data

3) Why NOT to answer everyone’s questions

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1091 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT MIKE —

Mike Cisneros is an award-winning data visualization specialist and co-author of Storytelling with Data - Before & After: Practical Makeovers for Powerful Data Stories. A two-time Tableau Visionary, he helps organizations turn complex data into clear, actionable visuals that drive better decisions. He works with the team at storytelling with data to help people and businesses communicate more effectively with data.

• Book: Storytelling with Data: Before and After - Practical Makeovers for Powerful Data Stories

• Website: StorytellingWithData.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Tool: Tableau Public

• Tool: Bullet Journal

• Website: The Pudding

• SlideShare: a16z - Adreessen Horowitz

• Study: “If It's Hard to Read, It's Hard to Do: Processing Fluency Affects Effort Prediction and Motivation” by Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz

• Book: Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

• Book: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Ronnlund, Ola Rosling

• Book: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A novel by Gabrielle Zevin

• Past episode: 1077: The Six Insights of Excellent Communicators with Ruth Milligan

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• Strawberry.me. Claim your $50 credit and build momentum in your career with Strawberry.me/Awesome

• LinkedIn Jobs. Post your job for free at linkedin.com/beawesome

• Quince. Get free shipping and 365-day returns on your order with Quince.com/Awesome

• Square. See how Square can transform your business by visiting Square.com/go/awesome

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Transcript

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0:00.0	People can take in complex stories, nuanced stories, but honestly, not all at once.
0:15.7	We are good at learning things step by step, building on what we've learned.
0:19.5	And this is one of the reasons why I've
0:21.5	never been a fan of the phrase, explain it like I'm five, because I'm not five. I have the
0:25.9	ability to understand a lot more things than a five-year-old can. I'm not stupid. I'm just uninformed.
0:32.3	You have to remember that that final thing that you share with somebody else is the only
0:36.9	part of your work that anybody ever sees.
0:39.3	So it has to represent it as well and as persuasively as it possibly can.
1:04.0	That's Mike's Nairos. He's an award-winning data visualization specialist who helps businesses and professionals turn complex data into effective and actionable communication.
1:10.1	He's also the author of Storytelling with Data Before and After, Practical Makeovers for Powerful Data Stories.
1:12.5	So you'll learn one, why analysis alone won't persuade. Two, the antidote for complex and overwhelming data. And three, why not to answer
1:19.6	everyone's questions? And if you want a quick summary write-up of the actionable takeaways Mike
1:24.5	shared here today, I recommend you sign up for the free Gold Nugget Email newsletter.
1:28.2	You can find that over at Awesome at Your Job.com.
1:31.7	I'm Pete McItis.
1:32.9	This is How to Be Awesome at Your Job.
1:34.3	And now here's Mike.
1:39.8	Mike, welcome.
1:41.3	Hey, thank you very much.
1:42.5	Great to be here.
1:43.6	Well, I'm excited to be speaking to an
1:46.0	esteemed data storyteller. And we're going to hear a lot about that. But one story I got to hear
	...

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