Data Storytelling: When Your Best Insights Meet Stubborn Minds

Forbes

30-06-2025

Even the most compelling insights can face resistance when they challenge existing perspectives.
Data storytelling and change often go hand-in-hand. When you uncover a meaningful insight, your organization must introduce changes to address the identified problem or seize the unearthed opportunity ('do more of this' or 'less of that'). Change can be difficult even when it's the right decision for the business. Our natural reaction is to question or resist new information, not embrace it. We believe the red carpet will be rolled out to celebrate each discovery, but they're more likely greeted with caution and skepticism. How you communicate your insights is as critical as the analysis itself.
Early in my career, I learned a valuable lesson about resistance. For a marketing project I was leading, a more senior team member within my department generated a lot of pushback against my approach. It felt as though he was hellbent on ensuring the project was a failure. After a couple of painful weeks of disagreement and stonewalling, I was becoming increasingly frustrated and worried about the project's approaching deadline.
I decided to lay my ego aside and try a different tactic. Rather than demanding that he comply with my requests, I invited his advice on the project and discussed what I was trying to achieve. My less threatening and more collaborative approach worked. I was able to better understand his perspective about the project and find middle ground that would address his concerns and allow it to move forward. This experience taught me the importance of tailoring information to different situations and audiences.
While we like to think the inherent value of our insights will ensure their adoption, workplace dynamics quickly teach us that how we share matters as much (if not more) than what you share. When it comes to data storytelling, you'll face many different forms of resistance, all which will demand slightly different strategies. In this article, I'll provide you with a roadmap for handling some of the most common forms of resistance.
Replacing existing narratives with new, better ones
Uncovering an insight means surfacing information that challenges people's existing understanding, forcing them to re-examine their assumptions. When you share the insight, you're not simply swapping out an outdated piece of information and inserting a new one in a plug-and-play manner. As author Shawn Callahan noted, 'You can't beat a good story with a fact; you can only beat it with a better story.'
The human brain makes sense of the world through narratives, which act as mental shortcuts that help us process and organize information into meaning. The pre-existing facts and assumptions that shaped the previous understanding must be rewired or rebuilt to support the new insight. That's why storytelling is so essential because facts alone are incomplete.
For each topic, your audience may have a shared or personal perspective or 'narrative' in their heads that is shaped by a mix of emotional, cognitive, and social factors:
Each viewpoint is shaped by two dimensions: how well-formed the perspective is and how strongly held it is. A well-formed viewpoint will be backed by reasoning and data (even if it is inaccurate or outdated). A strongly-held one will be tied to someone's ego, reputation or identity. A well-formed, strongly held perspective will be the most resistant to change.
A framework for navigating different types of audience resistance in data storytelling
While stakeholders will welcome new opportunities or possibilities as good news, they may be wary of negative news that indicates problems or risks. However, it's not that simple. Stakeholders could embrace bad news if the insight leads to a better positive outcome such as improved business performance or greater cost savings.
How receptive your audience will be influenced by their existing perspective, how well the insight aligns with their expectations, and whether they believe the outcome is actionable and worth the effort to change course. Even an uncomfortable truth can gain traction if it's framed within a compelling path forward.
How you frame the story for an insight may be completely different from one audience to another. To help navigate these dynamics, I've developed the Narrative Tension Matrix that maps how facts interact with stakeholder perspectives. Understanding how your audience sees the current situation is critical:
When there's alignment between the facts and their perspective, your story will likely reinforce their existing mindset. But when there's a disconnect, you may face resistance, especially if the numbers challenge their assumptions or expectations. Recognizing this tension allows you to tailor your story more effectively. You can frame insights in ways that reduce friction, build clarity, and drive buy-in and action. Let's take a closer look at the six scenarios of this model:
Same data, different situations. Different reactions, different stories. This matrix reveals how the ... More tension between facts and perspective shapes your data narrative.
In each of the following two scenarios, the facts align with your audiences' prevailing perspective. They may be surprised by details of the insight, but not by the overall direction.
1. Bitter Pill - 'The bad news you feared.'(Facts support / Perspective unfavorable)
Stakeholders suspected something was wrong, and the data confirms their fears. Your objective is to drive urgency while acknowledging the challenges or difficulty involved. Tone: Direct, empathetic, respectful. Pro Tip: Quantify the cost of inaction to frame the significance and urgency.
2. Victory Lap - 'The good news you expected.'(Facts support / Perspective favorable)
Audience believed things were going well, and the data confirms it. Your goal is to win over any remaining skeptics and build momentum for continued investment.Tone: Confident, affirming, energizing. Pro Tip: Use forecasts or projections to build excitement.
In these next four scenarios, the facts conflict with perspective, but that conflict could either expose an unexpected problem or uncover a surprising opportunity.
3. Gut Punch - 'It's worse than we thought.'(Facts conflict negatively / Perspective unfavorable)
Stakeholders assumed the situation was bad, but the data indicates it's worse than expected. Your goal is to create clarity and courage in the face of difficult truths. Tone: Calm, confident, and resolute. Pro Tip: Focus on small, achievable next steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed or defeated.
4. Silver Lining - 'Not as bad as we feared.'(Facts conflict positively / Perspective unfavorable)
People assumed things were bad, but the data reveals it's not as bad as they thought. Your objective is to reframe the pessimism and inspire hope. Tone: Reassuring, grounded, constructive. Pro Tip: Give them permission to be cautiously optimistic. Acknowledge their wariness was reasonable given the information they had.
5. Balloon Pop - 'Optimism, meet reality.'(Facts conflict negatively / Perspective favorable)
People are optimistic about the current state, but the data contradicts that belief. Your goal is to gently challenge the false expectations and reframe them in terms of what's more realistic. Tone: Diplomatic, respectful, cautionary. Pro Tip: Start with shared aspirations and then introduce conflicting facts carefully. Try to preserve dignity (save face) since the optimism was publicly held.
6. Gold Mine - 'It's better than we thought.'(Facts conflict positively / Perspective favorable)
Audience thought things were going well, but they are even better than they realized. Your objective is to address potential disbelief or skepticism that could impede adoption. Tone: Uplifting, enthusiastic, confident. Pro Tip: Quantify the unexpected gain and be prepared to defend your calculations and methodology.
Three key takeaways from this framework
When we step back from the data, this framework reveals effective data storytelling is often about managing the audience's emotional journey from their current mindset to a new reality. Unexpected positive results (Gold Mine) may trigger more skepticism and resistance than expected negative ones (Bitter Pill). People may react more strongly to data that makes them feel bad than to data that simply makes them look bad. Here are three key takeaways from this framework:
Author and poet Maya Angelou once observed, 'People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.' This wisdom applies perfectly to data storytelling. Your insights might be highly transformative, but if you make your audience feel defensive, surprised, or unprepared, they'll resist even the most compelling evidence. If you can master this emotional journey with your communication, even your most challenging insights become catalysts for meaningful change.