The Retelling Test

March 18, 2026
If your strategy can’t be clearly retold, it won’t get chosen. Make your message stick beyond the meeting—and pass the Retelling Test.

Laptops close. Chairs slide back.

The meeting ends, and it feels like progress.

The decision, however, isn’t always made there.

It’s made later, when someone who wasn’t in the room asks:

“Why this manager?”

No slides. No presenter. Just the explanation.

If that explanation isn’t clear, the decision won’t be either.

Managers provide plenty of information. But a collection of points doesn’t travel.

That’s where many strategies lose.

Not because they lack strengths, but because what was presented doesn’t hold together when retold.

The idea, the points, the close—it all has to connect.

Your process was built to be repeatable. The reason to choose it should be too.

The explanation should pass the Retelling Test.

The Catbird Seat

American idiom meaning an enviable position of advantage.

The best view. The upper hand. The most control. A superior perch.

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Did You Know?

Put Your Firm in The Catbird Seat

Asset management is a fiercely competitive business, yet most managers look and sound the same. Parson’s Hill Group helps investment firms stand out from the crowd—with clear messaging, sharp materials, and engaging presentations that win over consultants, clients, and investors.

To find out how PHG can put your firm in The Catbird Seat, call us at 857-222-0496, or start the conversation at catbird@parsonshillgroup.com.

In The Catbird Seat, we draw on fact, fiction, and family to illustrate effective presentation concepts in ways that can’t be replicated by AI.

To read past publications, please visit us at parsonshillgroup.com/publications.

Special Requests?

If there are topics you’d like us to cover, drop us a line at catbird@parsonshillgroup.com.