This course aims to help students excel in one of the business world's most important competencies: the ability to construct and to deliver a powerful, influential narrative.
What differentiates those who are more successful interacting with bosses and colleagues inside an organization? How do managers create trust and change the attitudes and behaviors of their teams? What differentiates the entrepreneurs who succeed in raising money from those who fail? Why are some companies more successful in attracting and retaining both employees and customers? How do companies that are yet to turn a profit command the value of billions of dollars? What is the basis for effective lobbying and rule-shaping?
Whether advancing in your career, leading organizations, motivating people, creating strong brands, building and sustaining reputations, or working effectively with politicians, regulators, and the media – successful managers, entrepreneurs, and companies share a few common, potent skills: they appreciate the importance of stories, they develop and maintain coherent strategic narratives – and they know how to tell them.
In this course we will study the critical role of stories in driving success in many real-life situations. We will gain an understanding of how our reality is comprised of stories, we will establish a critical perspective on stories in the arenas of business, economics and politics, and we will study the characteristics of successful stories and storytellers. All the while, we will practice and hone the telling of our own powerful, personal stories.
Who should take this course?
MBA students who aspire to lead larger teams, earn promotions, and step into senior roles where influence matters as much as analysis. In 2026, technical competence is assumed. Analytical rigor is table stakes. What differentiates rising leaders is their ability to align people around direction and purpose. As responsibility expands, success depends less on having the right answer and more on persuading others to act on it.
This course is especially suited for:
- Students who aspire to become general managers or CEOs and will be responsible for shaping organizational direction and public perception
- Founders who must raise capital, recruit top talent, and sustain belief in a vision through uncertainty and setbacks
- Consultants and strategists who need to reframe complex problems and persuade clients to commit to difficult strategic decisions
- Professionals entering highly regulated or politically visible industries where narrative control influences valuation and legitimacy
- Managers seeking promotion who must demonstrate strategic clarity, executive presence, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders
- Technically strong students in finance, engineering, analytics, or operations who want to strengthen their influence and leadership impact
- Anyone who expects to lead through crisis, organizational change, or rapid technological disruption and needs tools to build alignment under pressure
Crucially, the course emphasizes storytelling as an executive capability - not simply the crafting of a corporate brand message. Corporate narratives can be delegated to marketing departments. Executive storytelling cannot. In moments of ambiguity or crisis, stakeholders look to leaders, not logos, for clarity. The way an executive explains change, articulates risk, frames opportunity, or defines failure often determines whether an organization gains alignment or fractures.
For MBA students scanning the 2026 course catalogue, the question is not whether storytelling is useful, but whether it is central to leadership. In an era defined by competing interpretations of reality -across markets, media, and internal organizations - leadership is as much about meaning as it is about metrics. Markets are contests over interpretation as much as over resources. Those who can construct and communicate powerful narratives will be better positioned to lead in uncertain, politically complex, and fast-moving environments.
This course will feature two guest lectures of leading figures from the industry. Students enrolled in this class will have the opportunity to learn and engage with guest lecturers who hold, or have held, prominent roles in large corporations where they effectively employed their unique storytelling skills.
Order of topics in class are subject to change, according to guest lecture.
