Leader increasingly storyteller but missteps now cost dearly

"You can't win if you don't try". It is one of the most epic passages in F1 - The Movie. In the story of the leadership of the young F1 hopeful Sonny Hayes, who leaves the track only to return thirty years later to save the team of a bankrupt racing stable, one can read the need not to give up even in the twists and turns of life, not only on the track. The film, which has so far grossed more than $600 million at the box office, adds to the list of films shot with the iPhone. In addition to Apple, dozens of brands have paid millions of dollars in sponsorship deals for the racing car that does not exist.

It is the time of heroes who lead enterprises - even the most extreme ones - in difficult times marked by deep uncertainty. Leaders never before in the limelight, with incalculable risks compared to the past. A few days ago Nestlé fired Ceo Laurent Freixe guilty of violating the company's code of conduct for an undeclared romantic relationship with an employee, with negative consequences for the stock market share. Earlier in the summer the same sort had befallen Astronomer's CEO Andy Byron, caught hugging his personnel director by a kiss cam during a Coldplay concert. "People love other people's stories because they identify with their successes, their failures, their lives. That's why a business leader's story is a winner'. This was written by Joseph Sugarman, one of the world's best-known copywriters. Over the summer Paypal launched a call for a new head writer. This is the firsthead of Ceo content, a senior profile involved in the storytelling of the company head.

It is the first time this has happened among Fortune 500 companies. It is the leadership storytelling, i.e. the narrative of the CEO and the front lines that becomes a compass for orienting markets and influencing consumption, addressing audiences inside and outside the organisations. Targeted positioning to attract, inspire, engage. According to a survey by the Mit Sloan Management Review, companies that invest in these marketing strategies register +21% growth. Leadership storytelling is a lever of empowerment: according to the Harvard Business Review, leader-driven narratives increase by +58% internal engagement and foster an external perception of the company as a place of meaning and vision.

"Storytelling is a strategic lever that transcends technological evolution. Narratives, not information, accelerate change, make vibrant the purpose, drive collective action, engage. The importance of a narrative strategy is nothing new. Just think of how much attention is paid to the choice of every single word in Larry Fink's shareholder letters or how many people remember the words of Steve Jobs. Today, a continuous flow of messages about the personality of the company and its leaders counts more than communicating what that company knows how to do and what results it has achieved,' says Stefania Romenti, professor of strategic communication at IULM University.

The CEO becomes a storyteller in uncertainty, moving from a mere manager of results to a strategic architect of the narrative. For McKinsey, in turbulent times investors and customers look to CEOs for not just analysis but context. Over a third of people admit that the actions of their leaders influence their opinion of the company: 67% of respondents trust the CEO, far more than the 47% who say they trust their leaders. For the World economic forum, 72% of investors tend to be more supportive of companies whose leaders know how to communicate their story. The Financial Times studied the 'In Good Company' podcast by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank investment management. A narrative space perceived to be more reassuring and more transparent than traditional channels.