There’s a storytelling rule Pixar uses in every single film — and it can transform the way you communicate at work. In this breakdown, we explore one of Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling and why defining the stakes is what makes ideas impossible to ignore. From Toy Story to Finding Nemo, Pixar always asks two questions: What happens if the character fails? And why should we care? The consequences are clear, the stakes are real, and that’s why we stay engaged. The problem in most corporate communication? We describe problems and present data, but we never explain what happens if nothing changes. Without stakes, there’s no urgency. Without urgency, there’s no action. If you want executives, stakeholders, or teams to care about your ideas, stop just presenting solutions — start defining the consequences.

There's actually a rule that Pixar has for storytelling, which you can use to make your work communication way more compelling and impossible to ignore. If you don't know me, I'm Rob, I work with executives and senior leaders to help them tell more compelling stories, and I'm a huge fan of Pixar, of course. And Pixar has these 22 rules of storytelling, and there is one which shows up in every single film that they make. In every single Pixar film, the writers always ask two questions. One, what are the stakes, what happens if the character doesn't succeed, and two, why should we care? Give us a reason to root for them. So in Toy Story, if Woody doesn't get back to Andy, he loses his purpose, he's replaced. In Finding Nino, if Marlon doesn't find his son, Nemo dies. The stakes are super clear, the consequences are very real, and that is why we stay engaged. And here's the problem I see in most corporate communication and presentations. We talk about the problem we share data, we propose solutions, but we never really talk about the stakes, and that's why I think why people don't really care. Because think about what you're talking about from an executive's perspective. They've got 100 things that they could be working on right now, they've got lots of people asking them for stuff. So when you walk in and say, we need to fix our developer on boarding process, their brain is asking, okay, why now, what happens if I don't? If you can't answer that question, there are no stakes and you haven't given them a reason to act now. So never just describe the problem, describe what happens if the problem doesn't get solved. follow for more content like this.