Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business

Review Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business

by ASWATH DAMODARAN

Description

In author Aswath Damodaran’s “Narrative and Numbers,” he brings about the value and importance of the impact of storytelling on businesses and startups. In this book, Damodaran unravels the fascinating technique in how even just a compelling narrative can turn the numbers around. While he does not throw shade at the crucial work of logic and fact, he does provide proof to his findings that the numbers and the narrative together can turn the tables around.  

With examples drawn from real-world cases, he furthers into the notion and expounds how a great storyteller can present data in an innovative model that can hold its own against scrutiny. With real-life cases such as social media giants Twitter and Facebook, he uses the two as a comparison as to why Twitter’s stocks didn’t perform well compared to Facebook’s with the influence of a better narrative. “Narrative and Numbers” reveals everything from the pros to the cons of how creating the perfect narrative with numbers can save a business from going under.

About the Author

Aswath Damodaran is the Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education and professor of finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is the author of Applied Corporate Finance, Fourth Edition (2014), Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset, Third Edition (2012), The Little Book of Valuation: How to Value a Company, Pick a Stock and Profit (2011), and Damodaran on Valuation: Security Analysis for Investment and Corporate Finance, Second Edition (2006).

Table of Contents

• Preface
  1. A Tale of Two Tribes
  2. Tell Me a Story
  3. The Elements of Storytelling
  4. The Power of Numbers
  5. Number-Crunching Tools
  6. Building a Narrative
  7. Test-Driving a Narrative
  8. From Narratives to Numbers
  9. Numbers to Value
  10. Improving and Modifying Your Narrative – The Feedback Loop
  11. Narratives Alterations – The Real World Intruders
  12. News and Narratives
  13. Go Big – The Macro Story
  14. The Corporate Life Cycle
  15. The Managerial Challenge
  16. The Endgame
      • Notes
      • Index