Endorsements
“In addition to marketers, insight professionals, engineers/scientists, and product developers, others can apply the lessons and approaches highlighted in Once Upon an Innovation. I can see plant production managers, government leaders, schoolteachers, and social entrepreneurs benefiting from this book. Virtually anyone focused on advancing change or driving meaningful improvements can learn from this content.”
Peter Erickson, retired executive vice president of
Innovation, Technology, and Quality at General Mills
“For many years I’ve understood the link between business storytelling and innovation. And for many years I wished someone would write that book. Finally, it’s here. Storlie and Sherlock published Once Upon an Innovation and hear me applauding! My favorite chapters are “Storytelling for Ideation,” “Develop, Test and Prototype with Stories,” and “Strategic Framing for Stakeholders.” I love the graphics guiding readers through the book, the tools included, and the specific practical ways to use storytelling to innovate new products, services, markets, and companies. Every business will benefit from this work.”
Karen Dietz, PhD, speaker, consultant,
and co-author of Business Storytelling for Dummies
“In Once Upon an Innovation, Jean Storlie and Mimi Sherlock masterfully blend storytelling and deliberate creativity skills and tools to help teams surmount barriers to innovation. Smart and easy to read, Once Upon an Innovation makes science and scholarship accessible and applicable to a range of business situations, from work culture to product development. This insightful resource—born at a cafeteria table during the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI)—is emblematic of collaborative innovation.”
Beth Miller, executive director of
Creative Education Foundation and CPSI
“Humans are innately wired to be creative. Humans are also naturally inclined to be drawn to stories. In Once Upon an Innovation, Storlie and Sherlock elegantly weave together these two topics. Readers are provided with easy to apply storytelling methods that are sure to make Creative Problem-Solving efforts much more engaging and successful. But wait there’s more…beyond Creative Problem Solving these authors provide excellent tips on how to be a better storyteller and how to use stories to juice up pitches, presentations, and facilitation work with groups. And, not surprisingly, the authors model the way by including both entertaining and instructive stories throughout their book. I highly recommend this book to all creativity professionals, from beginners to seasoned experts."
Chair & Professor,
International Center for Studies in Creativity SUNY Buffalo State College
"Storlie and Sherlock have created a unique meld of innovation, creativity, and storytelling designed for those of us who want to use, not just read about, these skills. Their talents as communicators, combined with the book's skilled organization, attractive graphics, and relevant stories, make the book a delight to read as well as a valuable resource. As someone who has taught business storytelling and gathered stories from the workplace, I only wish the book had been available sooner! It's practical and inspiring, a book I could give to clients as well as use myself."
Sally Fox, Ph.D., Owner Engaging Presence
“Once Upon an Innovation is the unique alchemy of storytelling and the creative problem solving process. The result is a highly engaging and effective method for bringing about positive change in organizations, systems, new products, and beyond. As both a facilitator and qualitative researcher, I view Once Upon an Innovation as a valuable resource to any team or individual in search of a clear roadmap to breakthrough innovation.”
Jean Bystedt, principal of J. Bystedt & Associates and
co-author of Moderating to The Max
“Once Upon An Innovation is a wonderful addition to the genre of business storytelling. Jean and Mimi’s book brings inspiration and clarity to the field, melding right-brained creativity and left-brained cognition, both of which are essential to using business storytelling in organisational communication and problem-solving. Jean and Mimi have created an inspiring and useful guide for people who want to use business storytelling tools but aren’t even sure where to begin. The book is delightfully easy to read with engaging visuals, inspiring stories, and practical tools.”
Claire Taylor, co-founder of The Story Mill and author of The Tao of Storytelling
“From the early days of the creativity movement, stories shared by the forefathers of deliberate creativity, Sid Parnes and Alex Osborn—even more than their models and processes—helped people truly grasp and internalize core concepts of deliberate creativity. So it is fitting that Mimi and Jean developed a process for storytelling (and do so by telling stories) that will spread the wisdom and knowledge of creative problem solving and innovation for generations to come. This is not a textbook that bores you with what Mimi and Jean know, but rather a book of compelling stories that you won’t want to put down. And when you do put it down, you’ll immediately want to use what you’ve learned.”
David Magellan Horth, director of Innovation Venturing and Partnership and senior fellow of the Center for Creative Leadership
“Once Upon an Innovation is an engaging and user-friendly resource that sheds new light on innovation and change management. The authors offer multiple examples on how storytelling can be used to capture the hearts and minds of your audience. It has tools and tips for identifying a strategic or consumer need, creating an aha moment, and launching a new strategy or successful product. The authors also provide leadership tips, including the fundamentals on how to capture a team with an engaging story, build stakeholder support, and inspire action. This is the best book I have read on how storytelling can be used to see an opportunity more clearly and drive change.”
Lydia Tooker Midness, president of Spring Brook Farm, LLC and retired vice president of Innovation, Technology and Quality at General Mills
“In Once Upon an Innovation, Jean Storlie and Mimi Sherlock share a structured and relatable approach to storytelling as an essential means for progress. The book is a practical guide for developing your storytelling skills and a must-read for any change-making leader boldly seeking to productively transform ideas to reality.”
Emily Riley, innovation practitioner and director of
Business Development and Strategy Planning at Mondelez
“Tell a story, the right story, and spur people to change, growth, and innovation. In Once Upon an Innovation, Jean Storlie and Mimi Sherlock show you how.”
Sarah Thurber, managing partner of FourSight and author of The Secret of the Highly Creative Thinker
“Once Upon an Innovation is a treasure trove of practical knowledge, tools, and techniques on how to be more persuasive in any corporate environment through the power of storytelling. A well-executed story helps people remember what you said and gives them permission to take the risks to seek out new and better solutions. Never have I seen such a complete accounting of the mechanical application of storytelling as a business skill. I wish I had this book when I started my advertising career thirty years ago!”
Scott Buckley, founder and principal of
Buckstarter Branding Studio
