What's with the rise in corporate Storytellers?
"Even when headcount is shrinking, good writing and good storytelling are things companies want to keep." - Jake Leffew
Welcome to Musings from a 2x Chief of Staff.
Hi, I’m Elliott.
I set a goal to write one essay a week in 2026 on a variety of topics inspired by my time as an operator and former Chief of Staff in fast-paced, high-growth startups.
Here’s essay #11.
👏 👏 Big thanks to my friend Jake Leffew, a professional speechwriter who has written for many prominent CEOs, for contributing to this week’s essay. 👏👏
Tl;dr
Much like the rise of the Chief of Staff role five years ago, storytellers are emerging as a strategic role across tech's biggest companies. The CEO can still own the story, but storytellers are building the communications cadence and infrastructure to keep corporate narratives relevant, consistent, and strategic turning narratives, as Jake puts it, from “cost centers, to revenue drivers.”
Hiring: Storytellers & Communicators
When I decided to major in English, I couldn’t have predicted that some of the hottest companies today would be paying a premium for the skills I learned.
OpenAI is hiring comms people. So is Anthropic.
Netflix is looking for a Sr comms director for $1M+
and Clay already has a Head of Narratives on staff.
Business Insider called “Writing words” the new hottest job in tech and the WSJ declared that companies are “desperate” for storytellers.
This rise made me curious. When I asked Jake about this his answer was blunt: “The goal is to shape people's perception of reality — to make your company feel like it belongs at the center of it. Those who do that well tend to see a lot of value accrue to them.” Doing this well, it turns out, requires a coordination.
The CEO as Chief Storyteller Officer
As operators, we focus on working in the business so that CEOs can focus on the business, including crafting and sharing the company’s vision to motivate employees, excite customers and inspire investors. The stories they author create a shared mission that everyone can get behind.
When I asked Jake about the evolving demand for corporate storytelling, he reminded me to think of the most influential executives and CEOs of our time: “Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos - these people had an intuitive grasp of narrative and how it shapes reality. They hammered their narratives precisely to make what their companies were doing feel inevitable.”
Operationalizing storytelling requires full attention
When I was a Chief of Staff, I would help develop this story with my CEOs and then - sometimes in tandem, sometimes alone - would find ways to tell this story: weaving it into All Hands and Board decks, and incorporating it to guide strategic planning. Repeating the story into the everyday operations was critical to reinforcing the message.
But the problem was it wasn’t my sole responsibility, nor the CEOs. We had other work to do, so operationalizing the company’s story became a job that got attention when the moment required it.
Today, that’s changed.
By hiring for these roles, companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Netflix and Clay acknowledge that storytelling is too important to be reserved for when leaders have time to focus on it. The CEO can still set the story, but the work of operationalizing that story - of telling it, weaving it into specific channels, timing when and where and what - has become a full-time job. That’s why these roles are emerging.
But services like what Jake offers don’t go away. In fact, having an outside perspective is still really valuable even paired with in-house communication teams. "Bringing someone in-house signals to the market that you take storytelling seriously. But once you're inside the building, you start absorbing the company's jargon and worldview. You end up speaking a language that makes sense internally and lands flat everywhere else."
From Production to Editorial Judgement & GEO
Because AI has made content a commodity, any company can produce blog posts, social copy, and press releases on demand now. As a result, the premium has shifted from production to editorial judgment: knowing what’s worth saying and how to say it. In fact, “exercise sound judgement” is listed as a direct responsibility for the communications role at OpenAI.
“Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once wrote, in a case about whether a French film was obscene, that he couldn't define pornography — but 'I know it when I see it.'" Jake tells me. "The same goes for AI-generated writing: It's obvious when you're reading it. That puts a real premium on content that comes from a human, not a machine.”
Understanding this, it becomes obvious that these storyteller roles aren’t merely writing jobs; They’re strategic operating roles. A dedicated storytelling team, whether in-house or consulted, can keep the narrative consistent and active, rather than it being something the CEO revisits once a quarter when there’s a board meeting. And in this way an organization’s story, and how they tell it, becomes the new moat.
And it’s not just humans who need to hear these stories.
Brands now need to think about GEO — Generative Engine Optimization — alongside traditional SEO. AI search tools are surfacing and recommending brands based on narrative clarity and consistency. If your story is fragmented, you’re invisible to the algorithms too. It’s a perfect example of why operationalizing the vision matters: the narrative now needs to land with customers, employees, investors, and the AI systems that connect them to you.
Storytellers are the new Communication Operators
These storytelling roles are doing the same thing operators do, but for the narrative. They’re building communication operating cadences: What story are we telling this quarter? How does it evolve for the board versus the All Hands versus the blog? How do we measure whether the narrative is landing? What channels do we target and when?
Just like a Chief of Staff is the product manager for the organization, the corporate storyteller is the product manager for the company’s story.
And storytelling is different than marketing. Marketing takes a product and figures out how to sell it. This lives upstream. It’s the narrative infrastructure that marketing, recruiting, investor relationships and internal comms all draw from. Netflix’s own job posting makes this distinction clear: they’re looking for storytelling that drives all business outcomes. That’s a strategic operating function, not a content calendar.
Storytelling is a valuable skillset
If you’re a founder or CEO, your company’s story isn’t a nice-to-have hire you make after product-market fit. The companies paying $400k-$1M+ for these roles are doing it because they’re investing in a communications system that gives them a competitive advantage. Consider investing in this function - by hiring in-house or tapping someone like Jake - earlier than you think you need to.
If you’re an operator or aspiring Chief of Staff, the storytelling work you’re already doing is becoming one of the most valued functions in tech. Continue to develop your judgement and develop a system for corporate communications. Knowing how to develop, argue, and present a narrative in a compelling way is the skill that sets you apart.