storyOS

In this season finale, Harris, Kate and Michael reflect on STORY 2025, and the transformative experience of storytelling events, emphasizing the importance of environment and creativity in engaging audiences. The discussion highlights how changes in format and atmosphere can lead to moments of awe and wonder, creating lasting impressions on attendees. In their reflective conversation, they cover t...

In this episode of the Story OS Podcast, hosts Michael McRay and Harris III discuss the importance of leadership within the family unit, emphasizing the need for intentionality and proactive engagement. They explore how family dynamics can mirror organizational leadership, the role of children in shaping family vision, and the integration of work and family life. The conversation also touches on t...

Tune in this week as Michael McRay welcomes Brittany and Geoff Anderson, co-authors of brand new book Living Room Leadership and founders of Renala, for a conversation about why world-changing leadership begins at home. The Andersons share their powerful story of a marriage that nearly ended in 2019 during Geoff's time as an Air Force One pilot, and how coaching - not traditional therapy - helped...

In this week's episode, Michael McRay sets the table for next week's conversation with Brittany and Geoff Anderson, authors of Living Room Leadership . After his divorce, Michael crafted a framed set of commitments that define how he and his son show up together. This episode explores the radical but simple claim that world-changing leadership begins at home, and that the tools we treat as normal...

Michael McRay welcomes listeners into a different kind of episode - a celebration of his fifth book, The Wild Way: Navigating the Space Between the Old Story and the New , releasing today. Tune in for an intimate invitation into the heart of a project years in the making, born from more than a decade of coaching conversations, story facilitation, and personal notes from the dark forest. Michael re...

This week, Michael McRay and Harris III gather for a raw, timely conversation about what it means to treat story as sacred in a world that has reduced it to formulas and frameworks. Reflecting on last week's interview with Kaitlin Curtice and her new book Everything is a Story , they explore why their conference is simply called "STORY" - a deliberate choice to reclaim storytelling from the creati...

This week, Michael McRay welcomes award-winning author and poet Kaitlin Curtice to celebrate the launch of her new book, Everything is a Story . Curtice, an enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, explores how narrative drives all human behavior and shapes our identities, beliefs, and relationships. The conversation weaves through Indigenous wisdom, spirituality, and the profound recognition th...

Michael McRay prepares listeners for his upcoming conversation with Kaitlin Curtice, award-winning author and Potawatomi Nation citizen, whose new book Everything is a Story explores how stories root in our bodies, beliefs, and behaviors. Michael reflects on Kaitlin's framework of stories as lethal, loving, or liminal - categories that he argues aren't separate buckets but overlapping truths withi...

Tune in as Michael McRay and Harris III explore the complex relationship between emotions and storytelling, diving into whether we're primarily emotional beings who tell stories, or story beings who experience emotions. Harris shares how his childhood survival mechanism of entertaining others to manage their emotional states shaped his career path, while Michael reflects on his "emotions epiphany"...

Join Michael McRay as he continues his conversation with emotional researcher Karla McLaren, diving deeper into how emotions serve as guides rather than problems to solve. Karla explains that when emotions feel overwhelming, it's often about our lack of skills to work with them rather than the intensity itself. She reframes depression as an intelligent system that removes energy to redirect us fro...

Michael McRay welcomes Karla McLaren, award-winning author and emotional researcher whose work has fundamentally reshaped how many understand inner life and emotional intelligence. Karla shares how her journey into emotions began not as academic pursuit but as survival. When severe childhood abuse left her with intense emotions that no one around her would acknowledge or discuss, Karla was forced...

In preparation for his upcoming two-part conversation with emotional researcher and author Karla McLaren, Michael McRay explores why emotions are the fundamental architecture of all storytelling. Drawing from his work with David Hutchins in the Storytelling Leader program, Michael addresses the common pitfall of leaders who shy away from emotion in their stories, mistakenly believing that emotiona...

In today's episode, Michael McRay and Harris III dive deep into how we define success and failure, exploring whether our culture's focus on mental health has inadvertently reduced our resilience. Their conversation examines the pendulum swing from necessary trauma awareness to potentially over-labeling every difficulty as trauma, and how this impacts our ability to navigate the inevitable failures...

This week, Michael McRay sits down with Jordan Geary, Emmy Award-winning creative producer and executive at Sesame Workshop who has spent over 20 years crafting stories for children and families through beloved shows like Sesame Street's Mecha Builders, Ghostwriter, and Helpsters. After ten years at Sesame, Jordan has discovered his new mission: helping people shift their perspective from feeling...

Michael McRay reflects on the profound idea that "self-authorship is a sacred act" and explores what it means to move from simply telling stories to becoming better stories. Drawing from his own experience growing up in the church, Michael examines how so many of us have lived inside stories written by others - whether by religious institutions, cultural systems, or societal expectations. He share...

Michael McRay reconnects with Harris III to unpack the conversation with Pádraig Ó Tuama and explore the broader implications of moving from an information age to a wisdom based economy. They dive into how artificial intelligence is making information abundant and cheap, while wisdom becomes increasingly rare and valuable. Harris argues that as AI makes it harder to trust anything we see on screen...

Michael McRay sits down with his longtime friend Pádraig Ó Tuama, the Irish poet, theologian, conflict mediator, and storyteller who has profoundly shaped Michael's approach to narrative intelligence over their decade-long friendship. Their rich conversation explores the delicate balance between fostering empathy through story while recognizing that mandatory empathy rarely works. Pádraig shares h...

This week, Michael McRay prepares listeners for his upcoming conversation with Pádraig Ó Tuama, the Irish poet, theologian, conflict mediator, and storyteller who has profoundly shaped Michael's approach to story work over their long friendship. This episode introduces the concept of narrative humility - the practice of remembering that no matter how good a story is (even your own) it doesn't tell...

To unpack the incredible conversation with researcher Ben Rogers about his groundbreaking research on the hero's journey framework, Harris III rejoins Michael McRay. They explore how understanding our lives as unfolding stories, rather than just random events, has implications for reducing anxiety, increasing contentment, and building resilience. Michael and Harris examine about how Ben's research...

Michael McRay sits down with Dr. Ben Rogers, a researcher at Boston College, to explore his groundbreaking research proving that people who view their lives through the hero's journey framework experience measurably greater meaning, resilience, and life satisfaction. They explore how growth mindset is really just a story we tell ourselves about our capacity to change. Dr. Rogers shares how his per...

What if the key to resilience isn't changing your circumstances, but changing how you see your story? Michael McRay takes listeners through the profound idea that you are a character in a story—and how you understand your role and arc might be one of the most important frames you ever adopt. Drawing on Joseph Campbell's hero's journey and upcoming research from Dr. Ben Rogers, Michael reveals how...

Michael McRay welcomes back Harris III for a fascinating exploration of vulnerability, wonder, and influence. Harris shares a powerful story about performing a trick at a conference, then doing something radical—he simply stopped talking. The result? Thirty different people found thirty different meanings, each more profound than anything he could have prescribed. They explore Lisa Cron's framewor...

What if everything you think you know about emotion and decision-making is backwards? Michael McRay sits down with Lisa Cron, the brilliant mind behind "Wired for Story" and "Story or Die," to unpack the revolutionary science showing that emotion isn't the enemy of logic—it's actually running the show. Lisa reveals how her fascination with story began in the most unlikely place: analyzing subway a...

Tune in as Michael McRay kicks off a new three-part series exploring the wiring of the human brain and why we fall for certain stories while resisting others. He dives into the concept that story isn't just something we tell—it's the invisible operating system running in the background of our entire lives, shaping what we believe, fear, and think is possible. Michael uses the famous 1938 "War of t...

Harris III rejoins Michael to explore Selena Garefino's transformative insights about how our bodies store and process the stories of our lives, and why traditional approaches to healing often fall short. They dive deep into the intersection of story and body, exploring how the body functions as the unconscious mind, processing millions of bits of data while our conscious awareness handles a limit...