See a photo of Michael, a link to his bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.

Q&A with Michael Margolis (Question 3):

Q: What future trends or directions do you foresee for story/storytelling/narrative? What’s next for the discipline? What future aspirations do you personally have for your own story work? What would you like to do in the story world that you haven’t yet done?

A: The future of storytelling resides in Generation Y, otherwise known as Millennials. This important demographic, aged 18-29 and numbering over 60 million in the United States and 120 million in Europe, represent what I call the “Story Generation.” (Keep in mind, the numbers and age boundaries are still being debated, but these are simply conservative estimates). In our youth-obsessed culture, this generation has assumed the role of trend-setter and taste-maker, far eclipsing the reach of Generation X and even challenging the uber-dominance of Baby Boomers on our collective culture.

For these children of the Internet Age, storytelling is a multi-layered, choose-your-own adventure, narrative cornucopia, where one’s identity is ever morphing and adaptable to the presiding context. Not to mention, almost everyone in this generation is a budding designer, artist, writer, technologist, and entrepreneur. In my opinion, you’ve got the makings of a cultural and creative renaissance, assuming we don’t get lost down the rabbit hole of the storytelling metaverse.

I’m not sure you can appropriately call storytelling/narrative a “discipline” because it knows no boundaries. You can apply storytelling to just about any pursuit or activity - from marketing to social media, from coaching to management training to movie-making and videogaming.

Personally, my goal and aspiration with storytelling is to see it embedded at the heart of change leadership and management training. Every organization can find greater relevance through a story-driven approach. There’s a greater need to integrate the creative worlds of branding/advertising (always a story-driven medium) with the more strategy and people-driven disciplines of organizational change and innovation. Playing at this exciting intersection is my greatest passion, and we are always looking for new partners to play with in this sandlot.