Storyform Strategies Narrative strategy · Vancouver, Washington

Best story wins.

Helping teams, projects and people find their purpose through story.

A man stands barefoot on the bow of a catamaran, looking out across turquoise water to the horizon.
Where I like to be.

The idea

Story is the way we make sense of the world.

Data alone speaks to one part of the brain. Story lights up both the emotional and the logical, which makes it the best vehicle we have for communicating depth and complexity. People are naturally drawn to stories and pay attention to them.

That is why story is leverage. It brings stakeholders into large projects, powers brands, and helps you make sense of your own life. When we look at the story you have been living, the direction you want to go and what needs to change, we can build a strategic roadmap for almost anything.

Storyform Strategy

Big projects stall when the people behind them tell different stories about why they exist.

Storyform gets everyone to one story before you spend money producing anything, and keeps that story working long after the session ends.

Every session ends with a Storyform deck: a full record of what we heard in the room and where it points. It brings together:

  • What we heardThe history the group drew, where things stand today, and the tensions underneath.
  • The themesWhat came up again and again across every exercise.
  • The core questionsWhat your project is actually answering.
  • A thesisThe one idea everything else follows from.
  • A narrativeYour story, written so others can carry it.
  • Guiding principlesA short set of principles to make decisions by.

For longer engagements I add a roadmap: the major stops ahead, with the how and the who worked out together.

How it gets used

  • A decision filterWhen scope or budget pressure arrives, the story reminds everyone why the project exists.
  • A shared languageFundraising, brand, website and internal messaging all start from the same words.
  • Clearer directionDesigners, builders and agencies get a brief they can act on.
  • Trust in the roomPeople feel heard, which is where real alignment starts.

Ways to work together

  • The SprintFour hours. A focused session that brings your story into focus, followed by the summary deck.
  • Storyform Strategy WeekSeveral days with a larger group. A deeper session, a findings deck, and a roadmap of next steps.
  • Ongoing strategyA regular strategy session with your team as the work unfolds. I stay on direction while your team handles production.

I focus on strategy and direction and do not produce the work, so I fit alongside in-house teams, agencies and architects.

Who I am

I like this picture of myself: barefoot on a sailboat, looking to the horizon, wondering what adventures lie ahead. It is where I like to be, metaphorically and physically. Looking to the future, helping chart a path, able to adapt and flex and find the fastest way to the next spot.

I help people do this in their lives, and I help companies do it with their projects. I have spent years telling stories professionally and leading teams, most recently as director of a creative agency.

What I've done

A film crew and a guest in conversation outside a silver Airstream trailer marked Design Vancouver Roadcast, with the sun breaking through the trees behind it. Three people walking through a tall timber warehouse past tall stacks of plywood panels. A man in a green jacket climbs the steps of a wooden deck beside a charred black timber wall, with tall grass in front. Two men in conversation outside a modern modular building with large sliding glass doors, on a gravel lawn with woven chairs. Two people watching a monitor beside film cameras, a light and a diffusion frame in a high office with a wide window. Two men talking on a tree-lined path with the US Capitol dome behind them.
From the work

Who I've worked with

Architecture and design firms, CPG brands, nonprofits, and capital campaigns and development strategies.

Architecture and senior living

  • LSW Architects
  • Kendal Corporation

Education and nonprofits

  • University of Hawaii
  • Glacier National Park
  • Glacier Institute
  • Mount St. Helens Institute
  • Project Winterland
  • LULAC

Brands and media

  • The Jim Henson Company
  • Slumberkins
  • onX
  • Riff Agency
  • RollPros
  • Paddleways

Startups and ventures

  • Two Bear Capital
  • Kinect Air
  • Voltaic Marine

Get in touch

If a story needs telling, I would like to hear it.