7 min read 26th Mar 2025
What the breathtaking Netflix drama can teach us about better storytelling for business
I suggest you look away if you’re one of the handful of people who’ve not watched or heard about ‘Adolescence’ – the Netflix series that’s topping charts around the world. Since its launch 2 weeks’ ago it’s amassed over 66 million views, making it the most watched UK television title in history. Its volcanic impact has brought to the fore a subject matter that’s been bubbling under in recent years; we’re discussing ‘incel culture’ at dinner parties and trawling the internet for more information. We’ve seen statements from leaders of States and growing calls for it to be shown in schools. And if you’ve got kids of a certain age, the series has us all shining a spotlight on exactly what our teens are up to.
How can a series do that? And can we really pinch some of the techinques and pop it into our own business communications? OK, perhaps it’s a leap of faith to assume our business presentations will be cited as ‘a must view’ by Keir Starmer, but we can elevate our content beautifully and impactfully by…
Making it PERSONAL
Most people I’ve talked to binge-watched ‘Adolescence’ – four hours staring at a screen. You try asking anyone to sit on a Teams screen for four hours and the excuses will clog the chat box and the little tiles on the screen turn dark. One of the reasons ‘Adolescence’ has usall gripped is that it’s the personal story of Jamie and his family. Personal stories have huge resonance for us as human beings; we identify with the characters and the ‘thread’ of their journey, personal stories illustrate bigger issues in a way that’s tangible and heartfelt. We are then able to apply those understandings to a bigger more impactful picture, in the case of ‘Adolescence’, we move psychologically from the spotlight on Jamie and his family and see the wider implications of incel culture on global society. Here are some ways you could use it.
Personal for ‘Credibility’
‘Credibility’ is key for gaining trust. More often than not, ‘credibility’ in a meeting is a few lines from a CV or a job title (and let’s face it, in business, many job titles are impenetrable), or it’s skipped altogether, leaving the foundation for trust pretty creaky. Adding a personal story about your involvement adds instant credibility, and you don’t have to be an Oscar-winning writer to do it. It’s the difference between reporting
“23% of our employees report that they are working in silos”.
to saying,
“I was chatting with my Team yesterday about how they felt about recent changes and there was an awkward silence. Eventually one of them said they were feeling isolated. And you know what? A recent staff survey says that 23% of our employees feel the same”.
It’s a little personal story your audience can connect to and subtly links your credibility to the issue that’s being discussed.
Personal for ‘Proof’
In ‘Adolescence’ we see first-hand the personal proof of the dark world that Jamie inhabits, and we are gripped by it. In business we can use personal stories as either proof of the challenge or proof of the concept solution. It’s why, for example, when there’s a hike in interest rates the television news will focus on what that means for ‘Janet and her family in Teeside’ and then link it to the wider statistical implications.
So why not add a story of proof around your data driven concepts? If you’re launching a new product or process let’s hear about the personal story of someone connecting with it – make it ‘Peter’s story’. The trick is to then ‘blow it up’ and tell us
how many other ‘Peters’ there are out there; take the personal, then magnify it statistically.
Personal for ‘Emotional Connection’
We all wept with Jamie’s parents in episode four as we felt their horrific desperation. And whilst our job in business is not to have audiences wrecked emotionally, business communication has gone too far the other way; there’s evidence to suggest that process driven content loses us in under 10 minutes.
We were working years ago with the Head of Safety for a huge organisation in Europe. He was having struggles with getting the staff in the factory to consistently wear their goggles – whatever the stats and the figures put in front of them, there wasn’t 100% uptake. At their annual conference he told the story of Oliver – an old friend he had grown up with in the business who had been blinded by an unforeseen chemical reaction because he wasn’t wearing his goggles. He ended the presentation by telling us that that the most upsetting thing for him, was that Oliver would never see his beautiful daughter Eleanor grow up. The impact? A huge uptake in goggle wearing and self-regulation to make sure that ‘Oliver’s story’ would not be repeated.
You might be asking yourself how you this emotional story translates to you offering up a directive to a client on an new auditing tool, but how do you personally feel about it? We can offer up, ‘Here’s the results and here’s the recommendation’ or ‘We were fascinated by our findings and are so excited to share these recommendations’. We’ll care more if you show you personally care.
Credibility, Proof and Emotional Connection. Three simple ways that ‘personal’ can make our business stories and presentations more impactful and compelling. Have a look at content you’re preparing for your next meeting or presentation and find small ways of making it more personal.
We could talk about the endless other ways that make ‘Adolescence’ the most gripping storytelling we’ve seen this year, from the incredible technical feat to the beautiful directing and acting, but I’m going to take another little tip that we advise all our clients… where possible, keep it short.
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