Leader as Storyteller

Connecting and Influencing through the Power of Stories

Before there was spoken language, there were stories.   Human interactions center on stories; we buy products, choose friends, rally behind leaders, and express our core values with stories.  Telling a story that exemplifies an essential message is a far more effective communication tool than simply supporting a message with facts, charts, graphs and any material that lacks emotion and fails to connect on a human level.  Stories also help those needed statistics come to life.   We remember stories; they impact us.  Stories are memorable because they reflect life, are composed of images rather than ideas, emotions rather than facts, and principles rather than cliche phrases.

Business leaders understand the power of a great story.  A story can motivate, inspire, change our thinking and, most importantly, rally others to action.  Being a great storyteller also means being an astute listener, being able to read an audience, and speak directly to them, with confidence, charisma and depth of character.  This workshop helps individuals develop these leadership skills through storytelling.

The Leader as Storyteller workshop asks participants to consider their own stories and experiences to understand the core beliefs that guide their lives.  This set of values becomes the leadership pinnacles that are communicated to others.  Each participant will examine and share transformational moments from their lives, moments of incredible impact and learning, success and failure, that have shaped who they are as leaders.  Participants will be given a storytelling toolkit to help with both the form and content of what makes for a great story.  We will pay considerable attention to a story’s use and place in a business context, providing powerful tools that can regularly be applied to connect to and influence stakeholders.  Individuals will walk away having found, developed and told a personal story that is meaningful and connects to the audience.  Additionally, participants will begin a process of personal reflection that is necessary to find and share stories that motivate, entertain, and inspire.

This workshop is free to all Wharton undergraduate students. Applications to attend the Workshop will be reviewed on a rolling basis. If you have any questions, please email Amanda Zimmerman.

  • Date: TBD
  • Times: TBD
  • Location: JMHH 340
  • Facilitator: Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel, Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Pig Iron Theatre

Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel, Founder

Co-Artistic Director of Pig Iron Theatre

Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel ’94 is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company. Since 1995, Quinn and the company have created 18 original works of theatre, touring them to venues and festivals in Brazil, Germany, Scotland, England, Romania and Poland, among others. Quinn was a Henry Luce Fellow in Bali, Indonesia in 2000-2001 and was a Pew Fellow in Performance Art from 2002-2004. As teachers, Quinn and his team have led workshops at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, University of Virginia, Wesleyan, Drexel, Temple, University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College and Haverford College, among others.