In the last newsletter, we laid out how to build a narrative spine: a four-act structure to turn your quarterly content calendar from a disconnected portfolio of assets into a single, cohesive narrative.
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But the spine is not the story.
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The most common point of failure is the gap between idea and execution and while many B2B creators may not realize it...
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...There's a hidden tax on narrative inconsistency.
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Research shows narratively consistent brands double revenue while inconsistent brands spend 1.75x more just to keep up.
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The reason is simple: teams default to what they know—disconnected content—while the narrative takes a back seat.
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This perpetuates the 11% Problem: leaders want storytelling, but only 11% understand that narrative structure is what makes it work. They feel the pain of inconsistency but can't diagnose the root cause.

This is where we move from Narrative Design from theory into daily practice.
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We need a principle that sharpens execution that creates the narrative tension that keeps people reading, watching, or listening longer.

Competing Values

At the atomic level of every good story is a set of Competing Values.
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This isn't "good vs evil" or "right vs wrong"
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It's "truth vs truth"
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It's that tension between those Competing Values that become the spine where every choice you make as a writer is either for or against either value until eventually one wins out revealing the overall message of the story.
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Think:

• Fate vs Free-Will
• Freedom vs security
• Order vs Chaos

When put into action, Competing Values become the beating heart of the story.

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As soon as it looks like Order will win, Chaos throws something at it. Then Order snaps back. Then Chaos. Then Order again. You get the idea.

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That push-pull is what gives the story momentum. The tension builds not just because one side is right—but because neither side is ready to lose.
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That’s dynamic charge: the energy that shifts as each value gains ground, retreats, and regroups. Every scene turns the dial. Every moment tips the scale. And when it’s working, you feel it—physically. Your brain lights up. Your body leans forward. You’re saying, “just one more…” even though it’s midnight.
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When done poorly, the energy flatlines. Things drag. Feel rushed. Or feel like they belong in a different story entirely.
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If a scene, line, or moment isn’t working, it’s probably because it’s not charged. It doesn’t serve one value or resist the other. Cut it.

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Because every line is part of the argument, and every argument is a war between truths.
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Now, it's tempting to think that just because the competing values are the same, the story will be the same, but that's so far from the truth.
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Topic, setting, genre, and message are all different skins for the same set of competing values.

Consider the following movies:

The Favourite (2018) - Costume Drama

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• Order: Royal hierarchy, etiquette, court diplomacy.
• Chaos: Manipulation, sexual power plays, emotional volatility.
• Outcome: Chaos subverts traditional power structures—but order reasserts itself through cold, institutional cruelty.

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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Action Blockbuster

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• Order: Immortan Joe’s militarized patriarchy, rigid control of water, women, and warboys.
• Chaos: Furiosa’s rebellion, liberation, feminine rage, ecological anarchy.
• Outcome: Chaos destroys toxic order—only to create space for a new, more just version of order.

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Encanto (2021) - Family Musical

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• Order: Family expectations, magical hierarchy, duty.
• Chaos: Emotional repression, personal identity, suppressed trauma.
• Outcome: Too much order creates chaos in the family—but eventually leads to a new definition of what it means to be special.

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The way writers express each value—through character, setting, and structure—is what makes every story unique.
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But it doesn't stop there.

Sticking with the Order vs Chaos theme: The Dark Knight vs Fight Club

The Dark Knight (2008) — Order Wins

Order: Law, systems, institutions, moral codes.

Chaos: Anarchy, randomness, emotional manipulation, Joker's belief that people are animals beneath their rules.

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• Philosophical Conflict: (we'll talk about this more in The Narrative Design Toolbox)Can society maintain its moral compass when pushed to the brink, or will chaos reveal the fragility of our values?
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• Climax: The ferry prisoners and civilians don’t blow each other up—proving the Joker wrong. Batman chooses to preserve Harvey Dent’s reputation (the White Knight), even at personal cost, to uphold hope in the idea of institutional goodness.
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• Conclusion: Order wins—but just barely. Batman becomes the scapegoat to preserve social belief in good. The system is cracked, but not broken.

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Fight Club (1999) — Chaos Wins

Competing Values:

Order: Corporate structure, consumerism, routines, the illusion of control.

Chaos: Destruction, liberation through violence, anti-structure, primal identity.
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• Philosophical Conflict: Does meaning come from structure and safety—or is true freedom only found by burning the structure down?
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• Climax: The Narrator tries to kill his chaotic alter ego (Tyler Durden), but Project Mayhem still succeeds. Credit buildings collapse. The old world dies.
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• Conclusion: Chaos wins. Even though the Narrator reclaims his own mind, the system itself is already crumbling. The message: the old order was hollow, and breaking it was necessary—however disturbing the cost.

Most B2B content avoids this choice.
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But every purchase decision is a war between truths happening inside your buyer's head: Do we choose the solution that reinforces control, or the one that empowers our people?

Your content doesn't create this conflict.
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It's entering the conversation where the tension already exists.
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The only question is whether you will ignore it, or channel it.

Let's apply this to a real-world scenario.

A chief compliance officer at a fast-growing startup needs new security software.
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Most content on the market presents a flat list of features.
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But the officer's internal debate isn't about features; it's about two competing truths.

Security vs. Flexibility.

One truth says, "We must be so secure that we eliminate all risk, even if it slows employees down."
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The other says, "We must be flexible enough to move at the speed of the market, even if it requires more monitoring."

Content that understands this isn't a list options.
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It frames them within this tension.

More importantly, it recognizes that others on the buying committee—the Head of Engineering, the CFO—have their own dominant values.
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Content that stages this debate is the content that gets shared in Slack with the comment, "This gets our problem."​
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Even on topics that have been done to death.

The Topic: Thought Leadership

At its core, this topic pulls between two competing values:

• Order: Expertise, rigor, consistency, established credibility.
• Chaos: Bold takes, personal voice, emotional risk, originality.

Neither is wrong. But your audience cares more about one than the other, so your narrative should too.

Not by eliminating the opposing value, but by holding the tension just long enough to make the story compelling.

Here's how we would open an article on Thought Leadership two different ways.

Version A: Favoring Order

Interpretation: This speaks to brand marketers, CMOs, and regulated industries where trust > novelty.

Order is the leading value, but the chaos of originality still hums underneath.

Version B: Favoring Chaos

Interpretation: This is for founders, iconoclasts, challengers—people who want to stand apart, not just stand out.

Chaos is the lead value, but Order’s gravity still pulls in the background.
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This is how Narrative Design creates commercial impact.
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When you deliberately favor one value over another, you are not creating content; you are qualifying your audience in real-time.

The prospect whose values align with yours feels seen.
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They are pulled deeper into your world, and shortening the sales cycle from first touch to closed deal.

The prospect who holds the opposite value is repelled.

This isn't failure; it is a feature.
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You save them time and you save your sales and support teams the immense drag of servicing a bad-fit customer.

This is the function of Narrative Design.
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You're not "telling better stories." You're designing a narrative that actively sorts the market, increasing sales velocity and lifetime value as a direct result.
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You're creating a tangible, compounding effect that influences every part of the customer lifecycle.
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If this resonated with you, good!
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This is just one of the 20+ principles we're going to be diving into in The Narrative Design Toolbox.
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It is taking longer than expected, but we're working hard every day to make something that will change how you think about this work forever.
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In the meantime, if you'd like to see how we can apply these principles to your company specifically, book a time for a mini-consult and we'll work together to start planning your 2026 publishing strategy.
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- Until next time

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Tommy Walker | The Content Studio ​

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