Short Bio

As a business storyteller, Michael Margolis has consulted to dozens of leading institutions and world-changing initiatives. With a background in entrepreneurship and cultural anthropology, Michael has been featured in Fast Company, Brandweek, and Storytelling Magazine. As the President of Get Storied, Michael delivers keynotes, workshops, and learning programs around the globe. He teaches Brand Storytelling at the business school level and is the author of the book Believe Me: Why Your Brand, Vision, and Leadership Need a Bigger Story.

More about Me

A life-long entrepreneur, my work and writings have been featured in Fast Company, Brandweek, Storytelling Magazine, LA Business Journal, Silicon Alley Reporter, Contra Costa News, Midwest Airlines Magazine, and Hawaii Community Television, among other outlets. I am a contributing author to the leading compendium on strategic storytelling, Wake Me Up When the Data is Over: How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results (Jossey-Bass, 2006), as well as a contributor to the Employee Communications Guidebook (PR News, 2009).

I teach at the business school level, as an executive education instructor for the Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Canada, and their Masters in Brand Communications program. I am also a new venture coach and evaluator for the NYU Stern $100K Business Plan Competition (Social Venture Track).

In 2002, I founded THIRSTY-FISH, one of the world’s first storytelling consultancies working at the intersection of branding, innovation, and organizational change. I worked on many game-changing projects for clients including AARP, COTY, Ernst & Young, NASA, Marriott, The Nature Conservancy, and YWCA of O’ahu. I’ve also delivered workshops to diverse audiences including National Audubon Society, Mattel, PBS, and United Nations Foundation. Not just big name institutions, I’ve worked with many innovative start-ups, professional service companies, and social change efforts.

The Early Years

I began my career as a founding member of two pioneering nonprofits. In 1998, Volunteer Solutions won the M.I.T. $50K Entrepreneurship Competition and eventually was sold to the United Way of America as their technology platform for the future. My second start-up, CitySkills, was an ambitious market-maker (funded by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations) that connected urban inner-city talent with high-tech jobs. To this day, I continue to work at the intersection of business and social innovation, where the stories are often complex and high stakes.

Born in America, I grew up in Switzerland before returning to the States in 1986. I lived in Los Angeles through high school. I then moved to Boston for university (studied cultural anthropology), and its where I began my career as a social entrepreneur.  I then lived for four months at a yoga center in the Berkshires before moving to Washington, DC. In 2002, I launched THIRSTY-FISH, a pioneer in the field of business storytelling.  For the last three years, I have lived in New York City, currently in the East Village (Stuyvesant Town).

I am left-handed and partially color-blind. Despite my love for chocolate, I can still do a yoga head-stand. I eat more chocolate than the average human.