In business, great ideas do not always win. The ideas that move forward are usually the ones that are explained clearly, connected to a real business need, and presented in a way that makes decision-making easier. That is why business storytelling matters so much. I am not talking about storytelling in the theatrical sense. I am talking about the ability to take data, insight, logic, and recommendations and shape them into a message that people can quickly understand, believe, and act on. This is something I care deeply about because I have seen it make a tremendous difference across category management, sales, marketing, analytics, and leadership teams. So often, the issue is not that the team lacks data. It is that the story is not landing.

This year spurred many changes, some of which will be lasting here at CMKG. We are a training company that teaches in many areas related to data & analytics, category management and presentation skills, primarily for retailers and suppliers. Last year required us to pivot our live classroom training into virtual training sessions in the online space – and I’d like to share more about that with you right now.