How Storytelling Can Give You an Edge in Your Finance Career
October 2026
Searching Smarter Podcast: How Storytelling Can Give You an Edge in Your Finance Career
What do you do?
It sounds like a straightforward question, but how you answer it can shape the way other people understand your experience, value and potential.
In this episode of Searching Smarter, host Jesse Skaff is joined by Kristine Delano, financial services consultant, Board Member for Women in ETFs and fiction writer, to explore why storytelling is a valuable career skill at every level.
From interviews and presentations to conversations with senior stakeholders, Kristine explains how a strong story can make your experience more memorable, communicate why your work matters and help others understand the value you bring. The conversation also explores the other side of communication: how becoming a better listener can improve feedback, relationships and performance at work.
About our guest
Kristine Delano is a financial services consultant, board member for Women in ETFs and fiction writer who has made storytelling a central part of her post-corporate career.
Drawing on her experience across finance, consulting and strategy, Kristine helps professionals think differently about how they communicate their work, connect with others and develop their careers.
Your experience is only part of the story
A CV can explain where you have worked and a presentation can show the data, but neither automatically communicates why the information matters.
Kristine shares an early-career experience in consulting where an unexpectedly high-stakes presentation changed the way she approached communication. Rather than focusing on impressing the people in the room, she told them plainly what her team had found, what was at risk and what needed to happen next.
That experience became an important lesson: information is easier to understand and remember when there is a story behind it. For professionals, that could mean being able to explain to senior stakeholders and hiring managers not only what you did, but why it mattered, what changed because of your involvement and what someone should take away from it.
Three things every career story needs
Give the listener enough context to understand the moment. What was happening? What problem were you facing? Who was involved?
The aim is not to add unnecessary detail, but to give someone a clear picture of the situation before you explain what happened next.
Why did your involvement matter?
Kristine encourages professionals to identify how their work contributed to the success of a team, project or organisation. Being able to explain what could have happened without your contribution helps move the conversation beyond a list of responsibilities.
A good story should have a purpose. Do you want someone to understand something, remember something or feel differently after hearing it?
Knowing the outcome you want can help you decide which details matter and which can be left out.
The best communicators know when to listen
Storytelling is only half of the conversation. Kristine draws an important distinction between hearing someone and genuinely listening to them.
That means staying present rather than planning what you want to say next, asking follow-up questions and allowing pauses instead of immediately filling the silence. Kristine suggests asking several probing questions before shifting the conversation back to yourself, creating more room to understand what someone is actually trying to communicate.
The same skill becomes particularly valuable when receiving feedback. Listening for the message rather than reacting immediately can help professionals identify insights that could improve their performance, while deliberately seeking out people who will challenge their thinking can make that feedback more valuable.
A skill you can practice throughout your career
Storytelling and listening are not fixed traits. They are skills that can be developed.
Practising how you explain your work to someone outside your industry can expose where your story lacks clarity. Asking better questions at a networking event can make you a more thoughtful conversationalist. Seeking out people who will give you meaningful feedback can sharpen your judgement.
Whether you are preparing for an interview, presenting an idea or trying to understand what should come next in your career, communicating with greater purpose can help others understand the value you bring.
Want more?
At the Searching Smarter podcast, we speak to the brightest and boldest minds in financial sciences & services. From talent acquisition leaders and hiring managers to world-class professionals, we delve into all the ways they leverage top talent to drive their businesses forward. Listeners will walk away with expert guidance on how to attract, acquire and retain high-performing teams, as well as what it takes to be a part of one.
It's available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So listen, learn, and let us know what you think.
MORE CAREER ADVICE
FAQ
Storytelling can help professionals explain the value behind their work, rather than simply listing responsibilities or presenting information. It can be especially useful in interviews, presentations and conversations with senior stakeholders.
Kristine recommends three key elements: set the scene, make the stakes clear and know what you want the listener to take away from the story.
Having a range of relevant stories prepared can help candidates answer different interview questions with specific examples that demonstrate their experience, impact and value.
Kristine recommends staying present, asking follow-up questions and allowing pauses rather than immediately planning your own response.
Listening carefully can help professionals focus on the message behind the feedback, understand what they can learn from it and use it to improve their performance.
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