Dr. James McCabe

The corporate world finds itself in the Attention Economy after the digital disruption of recent years – every organization public and private is now de facto in the media business. In this new era, rhetorical persuasion no longer suffices, and captive audiences are a thing of the past. The timeless craft of storytelling as practiced since prehistoric times around the campfire and over millennia in the arts is the natural idiom of the smart-screen universe we all now live and do business in. Dr. James McCabe is a pioneer in this exciting new global space.

For German enterprises used to product leadership, the recipe ahead involves far more than service enablement and digitization. Platform economics and ecosystem thinking require sophisticated narratives that go way beyond traditional marketing and communications. The story leaders of the future are not just telling investors and customers interesting stories – but employees, competitors and members of the public. Storytelling is now a wraparound science for immersive experiences – from corporate strategy and product development to aftersales and service.

Educated at Oxford with an award-winning literary doctorate, James has worked and taught in Germany and surrounding countries for the last twenty-two years. His clientele includes leading industrial brands such as Siemens and SAP, as well as many well-known financial service, automotive and life science corporations. His talks and advisory have helped these companies navigate complex change and narrate new forms of value that were never before existent.

An Irishman with a ready sense of wit and a gregarious nature, James has many years of cross-cultural consulting behind him, enabling him to deal effortlessly with audiences in either English or German. Helping his customers to articulate whole new strategies and product portfolios, his projects have involved iconic solutions in the business technology space.

James is equally at home in formal keynote scenarios demanding original insights, or intensive workshops requiring ongoing ideation and group motivation. He has spoken across the business world from Dallas and Washington to Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. His upcoming book – Fable, the Art of Story – is the first ever to apply artworld narrative techniques to complex business challenges.