Michael Margolis

Michael Margolis is the CEO and founder of Storied; a leading authority on narratives for disruption. Storied is the first and only strategic messaging firm that focuses on the internal story for hyper-growth and transformation. Storied is the first and only strategic messaging firm that focuses on the internal story for hyper-growth and transformation: from selling a vision to change management to scaling your culture. Margolis has built a reputation for solving complex riddles at the biggest scale imaginable. He’s advised hundreds of organizations including Facebook, Google, Hulu, Shopify, Uber, Dolby, Visa, Roche, and NASA on some of their most strategic and ambitious growth initiatives. Margolis spends most of his time working with Silicon Valley and Fortune 500s: especially the functional disciplines of product, design, marketing, engineering, and talent. Basically, any team that’s responsible for building the future.

At every growth-inflection point, a company needs to change its narrative. Whether you’re solving for category disruption, platform creation or recruiting velocity - the story is the strategy. As a leader, you will be judged on the power of your communications: your ability to inspire, influence and motivate others through a shared, single source of truth.

Margolis is deeply devoted to global systems change and transformation; working with the biggest platforms, tools, and interfaces that are reimagining every quadrant of life. The son of a mad scientist and a teacher/artist, Margolis is obsessed with how to translate new ideas into cultural acceptance. As a social entrepreneur in his early twenties, Margolis was funded by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations for his pioneering work on tech workforce development and the Digital Divide. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, he is a student of esoteric Tibetan buddhism, the conscious life of stories, and how words create worlds.

For almost 20 years, Margolis has pioneered the field of storytelling and narrative as a management discipline. He balances scientific first-principles with deep craft and intuitive decision-making. His storytelling methods and tools have been taught to tens of thousands around the world, across 15 countries and 6 continents. As a bestselling author and two-time TEDx speaker, he delivers dozens of storytelling keynotes and trainings every year. Margolis’s work and ideas have been featured in Fast Company, TIME, Inc, Brandweek, and NPR. His latest book, Story 10x: Turn the Impossible Into the Inevitable, is 5-star rated, and available in bookstores, Kindle, and Audible. Margolis is left-handed, color-blind, and eats more chocolate than the average human. A recovering global nomad, Margolis lives in Los Angeles, CA.