The power of strategic narrative | Andy Raskin

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny Rachitsky

Technology, Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2023

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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Andy Raskin helps CEOs align their leadership teams around a strategic narrative—a single story that powers success in sales, marketing, product, fundraising, and recruiting. His clients include Gong, Dropbox, Uber, Salesforce, Square, and IBM. In today’s episode, we discuss:

• What a strategic narrative is, and how to craft one

• How having a strategic narrative can bring alignment to your entire company

• Examples of strategic narratives in action

• Who needs a strategic narrative and who doesn’t

• Why Andy thinks about movements instead of categories

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-power-of-strategic-narrative-andy-raskin/#transcript

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Where to find Andy Raskin:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyraskin/

• Website: https://www.andyraskin.com/

• Podcast: https://andyraskin.com/podcast/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Andy’s background

(08:03) What is a strategic narrative?

(10:34) How Salesforce would have pitched the old way

(12:02) Examples of a strategic narrative in action

(15:23) How one piece of writing skyrocketed Andy’s career

(16:40) The power of writing online

(17:53) Two paths to writing online

(19:27) Naming the old game

(20:59) Naming the stakes

(23:29) Naming the objective

(25:17) Naming the obstacles

(26:35) Overcoming the obstacles

(26:57) How the strategic narrative parallels the hero’s journey

(28:25) Telling one story well vs. being a good storyteller

(29:18) The 5-step framework summarized

(31:33) An example of the 5-step framework in action

(36:12) The impact of shifting to the strategic narrative approach

(39:08) Companies that are nailing their strategic narrative

(40:36) Why Andy thinks about movements instead of categories

(44:15) Should every company have a strategic narrative?

(46:33) Signs that something is broken in your strategic narrative

(48:53) Steps to get started on your own

(51:36) How to reach Andy

(51:53) Why the second session is the low point in the process

(55:30) Why the CEO needs to be part of the process

(57:40) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/

• Marc Benioff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff/

• Zuora: https://www.zuora.com/

• The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-greatest-sales-deck-ive-ever-seen-4f4ef3391ba0

• Gong: https://www.gong.io/

• Tien Tzuo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tientzuo/

• Want a Better Pitch? Master the “Move”: https://medium.com/firm-narrative/want-a-better-pitch-master-the-move-5fbee071ca7f

• Star Wars: https://www.starwars.com/

• The Hero with a Thousand Faces: https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Collected-Joseph-Campbell/dp/1577315936

• 360Learning: https://360learning.com/

• Nick Hernandez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoconut/

• Amit Bendov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbendov/

• Drift: https://www.drift.com/

• OneTrust: https://www.onetrust.com/

• “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott: https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/pamela.golden/engl2327/shitty-first-drafts-by-anne-lamott/view

• Story: https://www.amazon.com/Story-Substance-Structure-Principles-Screenwriting/

• Out of Sheer Rage: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Sheer-Rage-Wrestling-Lawrence/

• Station Eleven: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10574236/

• Fitbit: https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/home

• Apple Watch: https://www.apple.com/watch

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	the way most people did is what I call the arrogant doctor.
0:05.3	So you have a problem, a pain, I have a solution, a treatment,
0:09.8	and I'm going to tell you why it's better than all the other treatments.
0:13.2	And the structure that I read about in these movies was different.
0:17.7	Every movie starts with some kind of shift in the world.
0:21.1	And I call this shift, the shift shift from old game to new game and the
0:25.7	archetypal example of this I think in the business world is what Benyoff did with
0:30.3	sales force so he comes in and he says, hey, software is over. And there's this new world called
0:36.8	the cloud, a new game, new rules, you know, that's the new way to win and we're going to help you if you're in there.
0:43.9	This structure really is about defining a movement and that's very different from
0:49.2	hey I'm going to solve your problem. Welcome to Lenny's podcast where I interview world-class product leaders and growth experts
0:58.9	to learn from their hard-won experiences building and growing today's most successful products.
1:03.6	Today my guest is Andy Raskin.
1:05.8	Andy helps CEOs and company leaders align their teams around something he calls
1:10.1	a strategic narrative, which, as you'll learn all about in this episode is essentially a simple
1:15.2	story that helps people understand why they need your product and with that helps you align
1:20.2	your sales, marketing, and product teams along with your fundraising and even your hiring efforts.
1:25.0	Andy has worked closely with some of the most successful founders and companies out there, including companies like Gong, Dropbox, Uber Salesforceforce, Square, IBM, and many others.
1:35.8	In our conversation, Andy explains why most people are pitching their product completely
1:40.0	wrong.
1:41.0	Why focusing on the problem you're solving for people is no longer an effective pitch,
1:45.9	and how the strategic narrative helps you frame your solution in a much more effective way.
	...

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