Five moves compose an executive narrative. Situation, complication, question, answer, implications. Write each in one paragraph before any slides are made. If a colleague can repeat the question and answer after reading them, the narrative is ready.
Why narrative is a discipline
An executive narrative is not a presentation. It is the through-line that the data is arranged to support. Most strategy documents fail this test. They contain credible analysis arranged in chapters that match the consulting team's working tracks rather than chapters that match the decision the board has to make. The board reads the document, finds it interesting, and asks questions that reveal the narrative was never composed.
The discipline of executive narrative is a five-move structure. The structure is not a template that flattens analysis. It is the form that lets rigorous analysis land as a decision.
The five moves
Move one is the situation. Where the firm stands, what changed, why the question is being asked now. The situation move is short, dense, and uncontested. It establishes the premise the rest of the narrative builds on.
Move two is the complication. The reason the situation is not stable. The complication is the source of urgency. Without it, the narrative has no engine and the audience has no reason to attend.
Move three is the question. What the board has to decide. The question is named, singular, and answerable. Multiple questions in a single narrative produce multiple narratives, which produces no decision.
Move four is the answer. The recommendation, with the reasoning that supports it. The answer is supported by the analysis the team has done, organized in the order that produces conviction rather than the order in which the work was performed.
Move five is the implications. What follows from the answer. The implications include cost, timing, risk, and the next decisions that the answer produces. The implications move closes the narrative by making the decision concrete.
How to use the structure
Draft each move in one paragraph before any slides are made. Test the draft against a colleague who has not been in the working sessions. If the colleague can repeat the question and the answer after reading the five paragraphs, the narrative is ready. If the colleague cannot, no amount of additional slides will help. Slides support the narrative. Slides do not produce the narrative.
Closing
The narrative is the deliverable. The slides are the medium. Teams that get this right ship decisions. Teams that get this wrong ship documents the board respects and does not act on.