Teaching Storytelling as a Leadership Practice

The ability to tell stories can be an important leadership attribute and skill to master in order to be a successful leader (Baldoni, 2003; Denning, 2004; Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Storytelling is a central component of effective communication for leaders and a skill to master for future leadership success. This paper supports active learning, group discussion and reflective practice as a way to teach storytelling as a leadership skill. Leadership educators need to help students understand how to develop stories, identity situations in which to tell stories, and also practice the art of leadership storytelling. This idea brief presents multiple pedagogical methods to teach storytelling as a leadership practice to college students in leadership programs.