Grey Morley used live quizzes and practical examples to remind finance leaders at the recent 2025 Finance Indaba that insight is only powerful when it changes behaviour.
Expeditus chief data evangelist Greg Morley began his talk titled Data Storytelling: Turn Numbers into Narratives that Drive Action, by inviting attendees to take out their phones for a live quiz, triggering laughter and excitement. But beneath the fun was a revelation: finance teams are sitting on large troves of data, but few know how to use it.
“Data storytelling is a key component of data literacy. If we do not do that right, everything else involved in the data world is a waste of time. You can have the cleanest data warehouse, the best models and still fail to drive any change because no one understood the story,” Greg said.
He explained that finance professionals must translate complex patterns into language decision-makers can understand. He used Aristotle’s story arc to show the structure every dashboard should follow, which is problem, journey and resolution. In his view, numbers only create value when they answer a question the business cares about.
“We have been telling stories for thousands of years, and our brains are wired to receive information that way. When we reveal the signal in the noise, we focus attention on what matters most. The more we heighten emotional engagement, the longer people retain the message,” he continued.
To prove how design affects understanding, Greg compared 3-D pie charts with two-dimensional visuals. He described how depth perception affects how the brain interprets data visualisations, affecting decision-making. For this reason, he called for simplicity to prevent organisations from misreading their own data.
“When we design dashboards, we want people to see the message immediately. The darker colours should guide the eye to the most important metrics. Otherwise, we are making the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons,” he said.
The three Cs of data literacy
Greg then shared an example from the banking sector to show how curiosity changes outcomes. He narrated a case where a client wanted to shut down a division that generated only R100,000 in profit on a R1 billion turnover. The executives were ready to close the unit after the IT team supplied three months of sales data. After a consultant insisted on reviewing two years of data, the company realised that the division served the bank’s 10 highest-value clients, and closing it would have exposed the bank to risk worth R230 billion.
“You cannot make a major decision on a few months of data. Ask what promotions were running, what staff moved, what trends existed over time. When we widen the context, the picture changes. Curiosity is what stops us from making decisions that cost the business,” he said.
He called this mindset part of the ‘three Cs’ of data literacy, which include curiosity, critical thinking and creativity. In his view, these habits define the new finance professional.
“Do not just accept what you see on paper. Question everything, including your own lens. All of us carry biases shaped by our background or religion. By recognising those filters, we can change how we view company data and improve the quality of our work. Awareness is what drives better decisions,” he explained.
Stories that create change
Greg also encouraged companies to pursue a single version of the truth, describing a month-end situation where departments use different systems that produce conflicting revenue numbers.
“Every KPI defined once should be trusted everywhere. When finance, risk and treasury share the same logic, we can stop arguing about figures and start discussing decisions. That is when data finally serves its purpose. The goal is not more dashboards, it is better judgement,” he said.
The executive completed his presentation by returning to the theme of clarity. He told participants to include a call-to-action on every dashboard, warning that stories without direction rarely lead to change.
“Our raw data looks like Lego pieces when we first see it. We sort it, arrange it and present it visually. But only when we explain it through a story does it become something meaningful,” he said.
