Work with Master Leadership Storytelling Facilitator, Jordan Bower
Become more engaging and impactful in a Leadership Storytelling Training Workshop
No matter whether your goal is to drive sales, improve your brand, build culture, or inspire change, your unique and authentic leadership strategic narrative is crucial to achieving results and inspiring action.
In this fluff-free leadership storytelling training, get expert guidance from storytelling consultant and subject matter expert, Jordan Bower.
Jordan Bower has led business storytelling training for nearly 200 companies, including:
Craft compelling narratives that get buy-in for your strategic vision.
Great storytelling leaders do more than present facts and figures. They get us to believe in a future that doesn’t exist—and they connect with both heads and hearts to inspire us to come together and follow them. Leadership storytelling draws from a combination of skills, including logical analysis, creativity, and emotional intelligence. Used effectively, these skills can transform how you communicate—and the impact of your leadership.
This definition of leadership storytelling goes far beyond “how to tell a story.” It’s not about structure—it’s about conveying your message in a unique, engaging and genuine way. This approach applies to many different forms of leadership communication, including pitches, presentations, thought leadership, interviews, emails, investment and sales narratives, and more.
In this highly engaging training, you will learn the art and science of leadership storytelling through tailored examples and facilitated exercises. Then, you will apply your new insights to immediately improve your real messaging.
Get storytelling training that’s tailored to your leadership team:
Executive leadership teams telling the big picture strategic story
Go-to-market leaders who need to find a compelling narrative, rather than overwhelming the market with features & benefits
Data-oriented leaders who need to stop presenting charts—and start connecting to hearts and minds
Transformational leaders who need to get people to buy-in to the potential of change and overcome change resistance
High-potential leaders who want to improve their skills and elevate their career through their thought leadership
Divisional senior leadership teams in sales, marketing, product, operations, finance and every other organizational functions that need to improve how you engage, motivate and connect with your stakeholders
How Your Leadership Storytelling Training Is Structured
Shift your mindsets, apply your insights, and develop tailored, outside-the-box solutions for how you can use strategic leadership storytelling to drive real business results.
1. Learn by Studying Best Practice Examples
Studying carefully selected best practice examples tailored to your team and industry. Discuss cutting-edge changes to communications, like generative AI, and combine those insights with time-tested business storytelling principles, drawing from the arts, narrative theory and cutting edge neuroscience
2. Participate in Experiential Exercises
Practice leadership storytelling concepts in structured exercises, working with your team in pairs and small groups. Give and receive peer feedback, and support one another as you incorporate your individualized insights.
3. Apply to Your Real Communications Goals
Immediately put your insights to work. Apply new learned principles to the real messaging that your team produces, such as Powerpoint decks, reports, videos, social media, emails, team identities, strategic narratives and more—achieving immediate ROI.
4. Develop Your Tailored Action Plan
Identify accessible improvements that you can make immediately—at whatever level of change is right for you. Strategize how to deploy valuable time and resources to make the greatest improvement at the lowest effort, guided by Jordan’s insight and subject matter expertise.
Types of Stories Leadership Storytelling Training Can Improve:
Stakeholder presentations and pitches
White papers, reports and thought leadership
Data-driven storytelling
Change and transformational messaging
Customer-facing messaging, like brand and content
Team identities and positioning
High-level strategic narratives, like vision, culture, purpose, investment, and your North Star
Unexpected Storytelling Skills Your Leaders Will Develop
Active listening
Emotional intelligence
Creative problem solving
Narrative structure
Confidence and audience engagement
Giving and receiving peer feedback
Balancing the personal and professional
Visual thinking and graphical presentation
Achieve Transformative Outcomes for your Leadership Team
Develop narratives that create a change movement, even if you’re speaking to B2B or internal stakeholders
Create a “constellation of narratives”, so you can stay on message while adapting to different contexts & audiences
Improve the impact of complex ideas and data, distilling insights into simple, narrative forms
Build your confidence and ability to engage others, becoming someone who can hold audiences’ attention
Address objections and resistance to change through counter-narratives that can reframe and clarify
Discuss how your messaging strategies and tactics can change to adapt to the opportunities and threats of AI
"Jordan’s business storytelling training connected perfectly with where the team was at, challenged us perfectly and left us with a revived energy and call to action to tell stories with form and purposeful function. I’m super grateful!!”
— Karen Stanton, Chief Marketing Officer, IFF
The Business Case for Business Storytelling
Today, the role of the leader has been transformed. Leaders must actively craft engaging, authentic strategic narratives to inspire buy-in and drive change in the volatile and polarized world.
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There is no task more fundamental to leadership than storytelling.
Think of Steve Jobs and One more thing…
Think about De Beers and Diamonds are forever.
Today, strategic storytelling has expanded far beyond brand messaging and presentation skills to encapsulate the full range of communications functions you fulfill as a leader.
Your purpose, your mission, your vision, your goals and your KPIs, your conversion, origin, and investment messaging. Each of these are strategic narratives.
The goal of this leadership storytelling training is to help you elevate your communication, bringing greater engagement, meaning and buy-in by combining head with heart—and giving your strategic messaging life.
Specific learning objectives include:
Improving your ability to relate and connect with your stakeholders and audiences
Getting clear on the essence of what you are trying to get across
Studying how today’s best business communicators are turning leadership storytelling on its head—no matter whether they are working in B2B or B2C, or speaking to internal stakeholders or external audiences
Heightening your competence, confidence and credibility through your leadership communication
Identifying specific, individualized and actionable steps to improving your impact as a leader
Learning to think outside-the-box about communication, so you can be responsive to new tools like generative AI
Develop skills like:
Engaged, active listening, so you can assess your audience’s needs and tailor your message to what they really care about
Connecting your strategic goals to bigger picture narratives that will galvanize people to follow your lead
Addressing outdated beliefs or misinformation, guiding people to leave one narrative and begin to embrace yours
Expressing personal qualities, like authenticity and vulnerability, to engender a genuine sense of credibility and trustworthiness
Experimenting with cutting edge communications tools, from new social media platforms to generative AI, so you can make your narrative visual and effective
Start your team’s storytelling journey!
Strategic business storytelling is the foundational skill driving the future of work. It’s so much more than telling a story—it’s crafting and framing a persuasive message in your audience’s mind, leading to greater engagement, more valuable insight, and tangible business impact.
I would love to guide your team through your storytelling learning journey! Contact me today.
Leadership Storytelling Training Logistics
Leadership Storytelling Training Workshop
Delivery: In-person or virtual format, up to 30 participants
Length: In-person, one day or half day. Virtual, two three-hour sessions or tailored to your needs.
Content: Participants learn a strategic storytelling mindset and apply it to a real leadership narrative relevant to their work, with the goal of making their real leadership messaging more effective.
Structure: Training combines best practice examples, paired and small group exercises, facilitated discussions, and plenty of real practice
Audience: Leaders from any function who want to be more effective communicators
Outcome: A new perspective on the value of strategic storytelling; customized steps to implement the learning; clear and immediate ways to improve existing team narratives.
Facilitator: Every leadership storytelling training is led by Jordan Bower.
Meet Business Storytelling Trainer, Jordan Bower
Jordan Bower is an expert consultant, coach, facilitator, thought leader, and subject matter expert in business storytelling.
He specializes in leadership storytelling workshops, developing strategic narratives, and facilitating narrative/cultural change. Through his storytelling workshops, Jordan has helped thousands of business professionals in a wide range of divisional functions, including executives, sales, marketing, product, operations, finance and more. Jordan has worked with nearly 200 companies in the US, Canada, and around the world,
As a thought leader, Jordan has spoken widely about leadership storytelling at many events and podcasts. He also works 1:1 as an executive coach, with clients that have ranged from corporate executives to venture capitalists to thought leaders, start-up founders and US Congressman.
Jordan is based in Vancouver, BC. He serves clients around the world.
Recent Examples of Business Storytelling Workshops
Rakuten Rewards Operations Team, San Francisco
I worked with an internal operations team to help them improve how they were seen internally—helping develop an inspiring team identity and transformative vision.
International Flavors & Fragrances Global Brand Team, New York
I helped the global marketing team shift their perspective on how to engage their market—moving from discussing facts and features to expressing narrative.
Mölynlycke Health, Commercial Team Senior Leaders, Atlanta
I helped the senior leaders on Mölynlycke’s commercial team discuss new approaches and narratives for inspiring their internal teams through change.
Protective Life, Sales Team, Cincinnati
I helped the wholesalers on the Protective Sales Team explore new approaches for building trust and standing out with their busy financial clients.
"We came into our training looking for ways to talk about a complex product that we were struggling to message—even internally. Working with Jordan, we figured out exactly what stories we should be telling and why.”
—Head of Product, Unbounce.
Beyond Your Training: How Jordan Can Help
From intensive change journeys to full-day workshops to one-hour keynotes, Jordan Bower improves communication, shifts mindsets and actualize culture change—for you, your team, and your organization.
Change Journeys
Redefine narratives around strategy, purpose, culture, sales and product to engender the adaptive and dynamic organization of the future. Start by backcasting a new vision, then identify roadblocks to change, and support your team through new systems, mindsets, and habits.
Storytelling Workshops
Get change started through catalytic team workshops that build skills in business and leadership storytelling. Find novel, more effective ways of getting your message heard and leading your audience to a call-to-action—no matter whether you communicate with external or internal stakeholders.
Keynote Speeches
Bring in Jordan to enlighten and inspire people at your conference or event. With a unique perspective, deep industry experience, and a storytelling-informed communication-style, Jordan will help your attendees shift your perspective and level up your creative vision.
Leadership Coaching
Catalyze your own change journey and develop essential leadership skills, like creative problem solving, emotional intelligence and business storytelling. Build your capacity to guide others through change by getting Jordan’s help moving through change yourself.
Let’s start a conversation!
I will reply to you personally.
FAQs
How interactive is your leadership storytelling training?
Very! We keep the energy up with real world examples of effective leadership storytelling, dynamic content and facilitation style, and plenty of structured exercises in pairs and peer learning groups.
What types of storytelling does this leadership training cover?
This training takes a principle-based approach to leadership storytelling. That means the principles can be applied broadly to any kind of business communication. We address written and verbal communication in emails, reports, Powerpoint decks, presentations, videos, social media and much, much more.
Does this storytelling training for leaders cover storytelling with data?
Yes! The principles learned in this workshop apply to storytelling with data and other visuals. Leaders learn how to clarify their message, find the emotional core and relate it to their stakeholders or other audiences. Then, they practice applying these ideas to real examples of their leadership messaging.
However, this leadership storytelling training is not a detailed focus on infographic design. If you’re looking for something like that, we highly recommend Storytelling with Data.
What types of leadership teams attend your training?
Our process-oriented approach means that we can apply this workshop to many different organizational teams, including executives, sales, marketing, product, finance, operations, design, change management, HR, cross-functional teams and many, many more.
Do you tailor the storytelling training content to our team?
Yes! Before every leadership training in storytelling, we conduct research that allows us to customize content and examples to your group. These examples may include reports, documents, Powerpoint deck, or other relevant “stories”.
I have a shorter/longer timeline or a bigger/smaller group. Can you accommodate us?
Yes! We love working with our clients to maximize the value they get from our training. Just send us a message!
Does Jordan Bower facilitate every leadership storytelling workshop?
Yes! I have custom designed the content, and I deliver it in a tailored way to every group. I have successfully delivered nearly 200 storytelling workshops!
Are there additional resources after the training?
Yes! Your team will receive additional materials, recommended readings, and tools to continue developing their storytelling skills after the workshop. These are customized based on what we discuss during the session. Additionally, I will meet with your leadership after the workshop to reflect on the learning experience and to recommend customized next steps.
Can you help continue our learning after the storytelling training in leadership?
Transformation is my speciality! I will be happy to discuss a longer journey if you like, after the training. For more info, check out my homepage.
Outcomes of a Storytelling Training for Leaders
Every team will take away something unique to them. In general, most teams get at least some of these deliverables:
Learn the techniques, tools, and why behind leadership storytelling
Everyone in business needs the ability to craft narratives that will resonate with their listeners—no matter whether you are responsible for influencing your stakeholders, selling products or services, or creating alignment and buy-in.Storytelling systems can be used to transform any kind of business information into a more engaging and effective strategic narrative—and distilled into tactics that can be followed by a team and an organization. This training will help you see how.
Practice using storytelling frameworks to improve engagement
All effective storytelling starts with an understanding of your audiences, no matter whether you are communicating in a TV show, a social media post, or in a Powerpoint deck. By using and applying audience analysis techniques, you can hone your message so that it resonates more deeply.Though every audience and stakeholder is different, your ability to understand your audiences—as an individual and a team—can be improved by developing the ability to ask and answer the right tactical and strategic questions. This storytelling training will show you what those questions are—and let you practice using them so you can focus in on delivering the right strategic message.
Find outside-the-box solutions to real messaging challenges
Storytelling is more than a set of structures and rules—it’s a mindset and perspective that informs how you relate to your audience, affecting fundamentals of communication like perspective, voice and tone. Most teams in a corporate storytelling environment find it safer to divorce themselves from words like “I”, “you” and “we”. Ironically, this coldness and distance is exactly what you need to overcome.What makes this storytelling training unique is that it is focused on immediate implementation. As your team starts to see the potential for communicating more effectively through connection and creativity, you’ll turn immediately to putting these ideas into action. In pairs and small groups, you’ll work with your team’s real strategic messaging—developing outside-the-box ways to get your message across while also being professional, strategic and effective.
If it sounds complex…. you’re right, it is! That’s why I’m here to help you figure out how to do it. 😝
Give and receive peer feedback, strengthening your bonds as a team
We all know that creativity and risk taking are heightened in environments where participants feel psychologically safe. One reason so many business and corporate communicators prefer bland, numbers-oriented messages is because they don’t feel like they have permission to take a risk.This attitude inhibits engagement, because the truth is that effective storytelling takes space and time. In this training, your team will discuss not just the structure of effective storytelling—but also the creative process that is required to get there. Working together, learning from collaboration and also from “safe” failure, you will improve your confidence and willingness to try something new.
Set a vision for what you can achieve by becoming better leadership storytellers
Learning business storytelling can be transformative. As your team strengthens your abilities to engage, motivate and inspire, you will inevitably see a corresponding improvement in your impact—whether that is your ability to influence stakeholders, create buy-in around change initiatives, design and market compelling products, position yourself as a leader, or drive greater sales.This storytelling training is about raising the ceiling on what you can accomplish as a team—and then mapping out a clear path to get there. Jordan’s expert guidance will help your team see yourself through transformation, and take the first steps along your change journey.