The Rosetta Stone: Connecting Creativity and Finance
Op-ed by Drew DeMartinis, Controller at Full Stack Finance
The first part of any story is making you care. It's the hook. "Call me Ishmael." "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Without an audience that is invested in your story, there’s no point in telling it. I'm lucky enough in this writing medium that if my audience didn't care, I will never find out about it (please disable the comments!). Or they probably haven't gotten this far. Knowing your audience is of the utmost importance when crafting your story. And not just who they are, but what they truly care about, as well as what they should be caring about. So how do we get our point across while keeping our audience engaged?
Our job as higher level finance professionals is to translate data into decisions, and then communicate the rationale behind those decisions to people who may not understand the data to begin with. This is our version of storytelling: using numbers to take people on a journey that’s compelling, persuasive, and surprisingly creative. But how do we translate the effects of overspending to a Fashion Designer in a way that will cause them to change behaviors? How do we explain what it means to be inefficient to a Web Designer? We're meant to know and understand creative endeavors, while understanding what we do is only for people "like us." Being passionate about art is esteemed, while being passionate about financials and process is, well, not. The problem is that it takes both to create success.
It's easy to say, ‘spend more here, cut costs there, this is why this is happening, that is why that isn't happening.’ The ideas are so clear to us; it’s right there in the numbers! But what if our colleagues outside of the finance department don’t understand how all of these pieces come together or, more importantly, how what they do has an effect on them? But you need to realize that most people don't understand our language. There is no Rosetta Stone to translate a number into a word, an analytical concept into a creative one. And even if there was one, would they care to read it? To study it? Many people are afraid of numbers because people fear what they don't understand. So what if we Controllers could help them understand?
When thinking of storytelling, don't think of a beginning, middle, and end. There is so much more to it than that. We can obviously talk about the who, what, where, when, why, and how, but that's incredibly boring. No one likes reading a book report more than they like writing one. Being able to transform your financial reports into engaging stories is what is going to engage your audience.
Every story has three catalysts that move the story from its beginning, middle, to end- characters, conflict, and goals. Translating that to your financials is a personal one. Sometimes there are side characters, A-Plots and B-Plots, even conflicting outcomes that net each other out. But these are imperative to identify before outlining your story. And each one of these catalysts can be the main focus depending on your audience. That’s where knowing your audience is so important.
Examples of characters I've run into in my financial career have been Departments, Vendors, Customers, Balance Sheet Accounts; really, anything that acts independently that has an effect on the goal. If the story I'm telling is to a Sales Department, then my characters are going to be Customers or Deferred Revenue. Trust me, explaining deferred revenue to someone that makes commission based on recognized revenue is never fun. But explaining the concept of accrued sales is. Your characters need to be engaging and have purpose. There is a lot to be said about character development, but the key is knowing where your character came from and where the character is going.
Next is conflict - and I’m not talking about your colleague in engineering who eats your lunch out of the communal refrigerator. In the context of a story, conflict is a challenge or obstacle that obstructs the characters from reaching their goal. The uncertainty of whether the characters will achieve their goal is what keeps your audience engaged, and this is done through introducing conflict. There is nothing to create when it comes to conflict; it is always there. Each character has its own KPIs to meet. Continuing with the earlier example, all your salespeople have revenue goals to meet. Sometimes they may succeed, while other times, challenges may prevent them from hitting their numbers. When Sales understands this conflict--not just as an abstract concept, but a concrete obstacle--they are motivated to overcome it. I've seen it happen many times over: when the information is presented in a digestible way, people who previously claimed they “just don't get numbers" become obsessed with this newfound information.
Goals are fairly easy to understand. Whether or not a character has achieved their goal is the ending to every story. And as we all know, not every story has a happy ending. But we can't be all gloom and doom when the time comes to give the bad news. It is during the explanation of the achievement or lack thereof that we have the opportunity to be the omniscient narrator. The storyteller has the ability to let their audience know exactly why a goal was achieved or missed, and more importantly, what could be achieved in the future.
It's very easy to get trapped in your departmental bubble, especially during this heavy WFH time. Most people think that what they do is the most important piece to the company puzzle and it would fall apart without them. And they’re right. However, it is when the pieces come together that makes all of this worth it. By taking the time to tell your story in your coworkers’ language, you will find that they will make the effort to do the same.