Show Notes
“The CSO needs a seat at every department’s table—product, marketing, sales—because story threads through all of it.” — Rain Bennett
Storytelling isn’t just about marketing anymore—it’s about leadership, alignment, and growth.
In this special 200th episode of The Storytelling Lab, Rain kicks off Season 14 by exploring the rise of a new essential role in business: the Chief Storytelling Officer.
Whether you’re at a massive company like Nike or a scrappy startup, someone needs to take responsibility for narrative consistency across your entire organization.
Rain shares insights from his interviews with real CSOs, including Nike’s Nelson Farris, and breaks down what this role looks like—why it matters, what it includes, and how to fill it (even if it’s you). From establishing your brand’s core “why” to ensuring cohesion across departments like product, marketing, and sales, the CSO is the linchpin of a modern brand. And as Rain writes his next book on the topic, he’s bringing listeners along for the journey.
This episode sets the stage for a season focused on clarity, alignment, and the systems that make brand storytelling sustainable.
In this episode, you will learn to: Understand the purpose and impact of the Chief Storytelling Officer as a leadership role, not just a creative one. Translate your brand’s purpose and vision into aligned stories across product, marketing, sales, and internal culture. Avoid misalignment and brand dilution by building a system of narrative cohesion from top to bottom. Identify the right person to fill the CSO role—whether that’s you or someone already doing the work informally. Create trust and connection with customers, teams, and investors through one clear, consistent story.
For more storytelling tips and tricks,
Visit my website rainbennett.com, or Follow me on TikTok @rainbennett.storyeller Follow me on Twitter @rainbennett Follow me on Instagram @rainbennett Follow me on Facebook @thestorytellinglab Subscribe to my Youtube Channel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Storytelling Lab
"You've got to manage both sides. You're the captain of the ship. You let the playful side talk and then you get it organized and manage it. People are dominant on one side or the other, and either side can be very bad if you go to the extreme." — Kim Krizan
"Advertising is the loudest, most publicly visible, and highest-stakes storytelling that your brand will do. And one misaligned ad can destroy and erode years of trust that you have built." — Rain Bennett
"Storytelling is local. But we are a global brand, so we do need consistency — and enough flexibility that everything can be used at a local level, because what resonates in China is not the same thing that resonates in Kenya." — Sydnye White
"You do the story that you want to do because you believe in it and it will find an audience. You have to be passionate about something and not try and hop off what's already out there. You have to absolutely 1000% have a vision." — Leslie Zemeckis
"The best of the writers know structures are important. And then they forget that they've been intuitively following a structure and tell the world you don't need structure. The rest of the people think they don't need structure and realize by the hundredth page they don't know what the story is going to be." —Anubhav Srivastava