Generalities or Specifics: Homing In on Story Value
The most overused word or phrase in today’s world
I recently wrapped two amazing events with the banking and insurance arms of a major global finance brand. At both conferences we asked a simple but revealing poll question of our ~1,000 attendees: What is the single most overused word or phrase in this industry? As the word clouds appeared onscreen, the responses were unsurprisingly and overwhelmingly aligned: AI.
AI is by far the most dominant and unavoidable story anywhere and everywhere today, across all sectors, markets, organizations, and conversations. Machine learning, LLMs, agentic AI, generative AI, what it is, what it means, whose job it could replace, how we use it, where we use it, the benefits, the limits, the moral implications, should we embrace it, can we avoid it, do I have to deploy it, will I lose if I ignore it, who controls it, is it out of control, AI, AI, AI.
One recent study shows that AI has evolved to be the prevailing topic in 82% of all corporate keynotes and speaker sessions. Google's recent public presentation used ‘AI’ or one of its numerous derivations over 140 times in a single talk. Everyone is talking AI. Yet most listeners are tuning out.
No wonder we’re confused and exhausted
The AI message barrage has become endless and generic, filled with high-level arguments for its worth and repeated coercions, platitudes, and pressures to dive into the inevitability of artificial intelligence despite mass confusion and scattered data. AI may be imperative, but the sheer saturation of the topic has left many of us bored and checked out.
Our audiences at these two recent finance events were perfect examples. From word one on the first mornings these ~1,000 guests were told by executive leadership that the insurance sector leads all others in AI adoption, yet only 2% of individuals working within the insurance sector use AI on a daily basis. Instant misalignment. But with a direct expectation: We must adopt AI now! Guess what the special guest keynote topic was at both conferences?
Two experts, 1,000 heavy sighs
Two seasoned experts in two separate rooms stressed multiple reasons AI is vital and how important it is to embrace AI today. Both offered big-picture statistics and 60,000-foot proof of the legs-up AI gives corporations and industries. No surprise, the audiences didn't see themselves in any of it.
Because humans don't care about corporations – they care about their own individual success. So what could these two speakers – both brilliant and rightly lauded experts – have done differently in their keynotes to win over crowds who only minutes earlier had said the most overused word or phrase in their industry is ‘AI’?
When everyone is talking about the same subject, and audiences are already overwhelmed, confused, and wary of that subject, the only way to create value is to stand apart and above with specificity and clarity that [aints the subject in a new and appealing light. More of the same information or data won’t lead to a successful talk.
Winning communication is about transformation
Strong #CorporateStorytelling understands that in order for a listener to be transformed by our content, they have to become personally and confidently invested in the value of that content for themselves, not for their companies or mass markets. Until AI becomes personal they’ll remain checked out.
In the case of these two speakers at these two events, AI was touted as a global imperative, but because their audiences didn’t see or internalize exactly how AI would pay off for them specifically, they tuned out. Meaning roughly 1,000 guests walked away impressed and entertained, but not transformed. I’d wager not one took action or adopted the technology based on those keynotes.
The AI Imperative by the numbers
The AI imperative varies based on personal versus business use. For instance, while 77% of our devices include some native form of AI technology, only 41% of us believe AI has the potential to improve our lives. And only 34% of us recognize we're even using AI in any manner (think Siri, Alexa, Waze, or YouTube). Up to 58% of us regularly or occasionally use tools like ChatGPT, but only 22% of us in the US say we like it – that number drops to 10% in Japan. Meanwhile, 83% of companies claim that AI is a top priority in their business plans. Still curious we're all so confused?
Our companies say we have to use AI, but as individuals we simply don't want to. Everyone speaking on the topic of AI today needs to surmount this misalignment in order to give a winning talk. Few do.
Bottom Line
The goal of #CorporateStorytelling is to communicate the precise, unavoidable ways our topic will pay off for each member of our audience. How easily achievable the new approach we recommend will be, and the immediacy of their new success if they listen to us speak then instantly act on what we're telling them. It all requires specifics rather than generalities. This is how we turn the most overused and least appreciated phrase in any industry into genuine and measurable value for others.
