We get great speakers on our member Roundtable calls for TheCR Network and they all speak wonderfully about their area of expertise. But one hour is not really long enough to get to know them better. So we’re starting a new series where we ask them 3 questions. Not about their expertise necessarily but about them…and offer a chance for them to ask us questions. Thanks goes out to Michael Margolis who is speaking with our members this Thursday on Storytelling: How To Turn Your Supporters Into True Believers for being first:
1. Tell us a little about yourself and your work. Include whether it’s different from what you thought you’d be doing when you “grew up” and if that matters to you.
Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to be when I grew up. My dad’s an inventor and entrepreneur, and my mother is a teacher, artist and toy designer. So you can imagine, my family is lovingly…different. I had plenty of creative freedom and inspiration as a child.
But there was another factor in the mix: I was born in Ohio, grew up in Switzerland till the age of 9, then moved to L.A. I’ve been on the east coast for the last ten years, currently living in NYC. And my dad is from Zimbabwe. I’m a creative, entrepreneurial, Swiss-African (American) Jew. There’s no checkbox for that anywhere! So I had a hell of a time trying to figure out where I belonged, and where I fit in. I’ve noticed many of us feel like cultural nomads, traveling across many worlds, but not knowing what to call home and where you belong. Humans are hardwired to be in relationship with others, to build community with each other. We want to know who our tribe is.
So I gravitated toward anthropology to better understand human behavior. I half envisioned smoking dope with shamans in the Amazon; I wanted to be enlightened. But even as I was fascinated by the past, I was even more engaged looking at the future of culture. It was the late nineties and I got involved in the dot.com boom, where the Internet was literally reshaping modern culture. Two start-ups later, I realized the key to inventing the future is all about storytelling. Storytelling is the DNA of the human experience; it’s at the core of all communications and relationships. Culture is simply the stories we share in common.
If you’re an innovator with a new idea or product, you have to package it using storytelling principles in order for people to see, care, and believe in the same things you do. For many years, I was a “message architect” for leading brands – AARP, Marriott, NASA, and Earnst & Young – who needed help with their strategic story. Now I’m a teacher (and not the dope-smoking kind that live in the Amazon). As the founder of Get Storied I oversee an education and publishing company that works with marketers, change-makers, and creatives. I’m the dean of Story University and the curator of Reinvention Summit, the world’s largest online conference on storytelling for the digital age. I’m also creating curriculum and learning programs that help brands understand how to steer their story and ideas through that transition from early adoption to mainstream reality
Any time you’re doing something new and different, you need to be able to take your idea from the fringe into cultural acceptance, and that’s what I do at Get Storied.
2. What’s the best professional advice you’ve ever heard and why? What key thought, event, or person did you encounter that totally reshaped what you do?
We teach what we need to learn most.
I don’t know exactly how I encountered that idea, but I was about 25 years old and I was living in Washington DC. I was trying to reconcile the inherent paradox I experienced in my first career as an social entrepreneur, co-founding two non-profits before the age of 23. I had a lot of early success (like funding from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations), but also plenty of failure and disappointment. I walked away, with a lot of inner turmoil, and struggled for years to figure this out.
I had been trying to change the world, but didn’t realize there was an internal component to this change – it’s not all external to the change agent.
Most people who are change-makers think that they’re different. Change-makers are also often rejecting something. The paradox is that you’re rejecting the accepted culture, but at the same time you’re trying to find acceptance. So your whole identity is up for grabs. And the question becomes “How can I convince others that my very different, new vision is worth listening to?”
My work in the world is a stage for my own inner reconciliation. I teach storytelling because I felt lost in translation for much of my life. I teach storytelling because I’m passionate about innovation, and too often see ideas with world-changing potential simply not live up to their promise.
3. If our members could answer one question for you, what would it be?
You’re all community managers; I’m interested in your insights on tribe building.
- How have you managed to build a meaningful tribe that people really identify with and want to be a part of?
- How have you moved beyond the “transactional” relationship of selling a product or service to help your brand create sustained, meaningful interaction with a community of people?
I’m gearing up to Reinvention Summit 2, which will be the most the most actionable, transformative learning event on storytelling in the world. It’s a 5-day virtual conference designed to teach people to use powerful storytelling to supercharge their message, broaden their influence, and change the world (without selling their souls).
I believe the Community Roundtable tribe has a lot of insight for what we’ll be doing there; I’d love to share your wisdom…
Do you have any wisdom to share with Michael? Please comment below and we will pass along to him.
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If you are interested in learning more about TheCR Network roundtable calls or listening in on one let us know. We always leave a few seats open for guests. Also, Thursday’s event is not the only one we have on our plate coming up:
Tues. Feb 14th: Office Hours for TheCR Network members. Log in and chat with our team about community, other members you’d like to connect to, issues you’re having, successes you’d like us to promote. We’ll have a regular schedule of these coming out.
Wed. Feb 15th – SAP Day of Social Media Sessions during Social Media Week where Rachel Happe will be speaking
1:20 PT – presentation “Why People, Relationships, and Communities are Becoming Strategic”
2 PT – panel discussion
Check out the event’s live stream here
Thurs. Feb 16th – TheCR Network member roundtable 2p ET – Storytelling: How To Turn Your Supporters Into True Believers
Fri. Feb. 17th – TheCRLive! Boston 12-2p – Summer Shack, Cambridge, MA – a dutch treat lunch where we talk community, social media and Red Sox (of course)
Fri. Feb 24th – The Community Manager Unconference – we are proud to sponsor this event and look forward to hearing the conversation that comes out of it!
Tues. March 13th – SXSW panel Get Lucky: Create Serendipity to Spur Innovation with Jim Storer + 4 other really smart social business minds.
