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CONSULTANT
&
AUTHOR

Dan Morrison

Communications/public affairs leader, board member, Pulitzer-nominated former journalist, former senior advisor and speechwriter at the U.S. State Department, TEDx speaker, Techstars mentor, author, investor, professor. As founder of StoryVenture, I act as a co-pilot to help organizations deploy thought leadership and broader communications strategies for impact.

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Career Highlights and Accomplishments

A communications and public affairs strategist who has worked with leaders at the highest levels across the public and private sectors on multiple continents - Colin Powell, IBM's senior executive suite, the head of the IMF, the head of the OECD, Yahoo!, American and Japanese companies navigating Brussels, and the Court for Sierra Leone that prosecuted the Blood Diamond conflict.

Priors include: Bloomberg, IBM, the U.S. State Department, the OECD and Pew Research Center. Lesson learned along the way?

An individual who combines thought leadership and communications expertise with literary skill and quantitative acumen to win trust and drive impact.
Executive leadership training from Wharton, Harvard, London School of Economics. Earned an online certificate from the Special Competitive Studies Project for AI in National Security: Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Public Sector Missions. Online certification from Wharton on AI for Business and Decision-Making. Have presented on AI to the IMF, the EU, the OECD and the U.S. Embassy, Beijing. Well versed in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Co-Pilot, and Perplexity.

Knows his way around an Income Statement and a Balance Sheet. 

Possesses a rare knowledge of both Washington and Brussels. Senior advisor to companies navigating the European Union.
Empowering teams at:
Oyster
When I'm not consulting and writing, I do cross-country ski marathons, am a certified Iditarod dog handler, and I'm part owner of a second-tier professional Danish soccer team. I took advanced culinary classes at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and I raise oysters on the Chesapeake.
Consulting

StoryVenture

Thought leadership is the new advertising. It's about positioning your brand, point of view and content in a way that allows you to own your narrative and frame wider stories.

The best thought leadership explains, teaches and builds authority around issues important to your mission, and those larger than you. Most important, in an always-on, attention-challenged world, thought leadership is one of the last-remaining beachheads for building trust.

One of our sweet spots is working with North American organizations scaling into Europe, or European organizations scaling into the United States. We help you deploy thought leadership to fireproof against current crises, or future proof against future crises.

If you're a company, nailing thought leadership helps you enhance your market position, attract customers and influence trends and policies. If you're a venture capital firm or private equity firm or a start-up, it helps you draw investment and talent, and compete. If you're a government or an NGO, thought leadership helps you steer policy and enhance cooperation.
StoryVenture is selective about its engagements and focuses on relationships where it thinks it can make an impact.
Helping you build trust with your stakeholders is our bias.
We're not Finnish, but a guiding principle is "Sisu" - white-knuckled perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity.
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My Books

Bandwidth & Backpacks and Baguettes

Bandwidth is a financial and technology thriller. It captures the two dominant threads of the first decade of the 21st century - greed and terrorism.

Several years after the dot com funeral pyre, Hayden Campbell - a former CIA operative turned speechwriter - finds himself working for the sixth richest man in the world, Aaron Cannondale. From his perch, Hayden watches as a Dutch student discovers a technology to send voice, video and data through Europe's municipal water systems.

Backpacks and Baguettes attempts to better understand what children think, see, feel, and smell when the travel. Everything is new, and everyone is a possible friend.

The book is reminder of what it was like to be in the world be the pandemic hit - the sound of mopeds in Vietnam, the smell of chicken turning on a spit at a French market, a water fight in Bangkok, mushroom hunting in the hills of Tuscany, the feel of fog on your face in the San Francisco bay - human contact.
Books - Bandwidth & Backpacks and Baguettes
Backpacks & Baguettes book

Backpacks and Baguettes

You're only a child once. Capturing the world through young eyes is difficult. Backpacks and Baguettes attempts to better understand what children think, see, feel, and smell when they travel. Everything is new, and everyone is a possible friend.

The book is reminder of what it was like to be in the world before the pandemic hit - the sound of mopeds in Vietnam, the smell of the chicken turning on a spit at a French market, a water fight in Bangkok, mushroom hunting in the hills of Tuscany, the feel of fog on your face in the San Francisco bay - human contact.

Your guide is Sam, a half-American/half British-boy who so far in his young life has been lucky to grow up in Paris and Washington, D.C.. Sam loves soccer and food and is curious about how people in other countries live their lives. He thinks graffiti and street art are better than postcards to truly understand a place. He's even included some authentic global graffiti in the book for you to color. He's also left space on the back of each image for you to draw your own graffiti or take notes.

Sam's stories are about asking questions until you're exhausted. They're about not caring what people think. They're about smiling and laughing until it hurts and playing until you scrape your knees. They're about letting your imagination run wild. They're about realizing in one breath that children are different, but ultimately the same all around the world. They're about being a kid once.

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Bandwidth - financial & tech thriller

Bandwidth captures the two dominant threads of the first decade of the 21st century - greed and terrorism.

Several years after the dot.com funeral pyre, Hayden Campbell - a former CIA operative turned speechwriter - finds himself working for the sixth richest man in the world, Aaron Cannondale. From his perch, Hayden watches as a Dutch student discovers a technology to send voice, video and data through Europe's municipal water systems.

Bandwidth takes us from the stoops of Brooklyn, to Moscow and Zurich, to the bike paths of Amsterdam and the backrooms of Brussels and Frankfurt, to Afghanistan and the hazy diwans of Yemen.

Dazzled by his new boss but harboring a soft spot for the Agency, Hayden allows himself to be pulled back in for one more run - a run that reminds him that people aren't what they seem, a run that reinforces his belief that greed has no sell-by date.

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Bandwidth
Black White Paper

My Speaking Engagements and Book Interviews

Testimonials

StarStarStarStarStar

Masterful Communicator; Global Insight.

“If I ever had to write a speech for a best man toast, or for my company's annual shareholder meeting, or for a peace treaty at the UN, I would ask Dan Morrison for help. It's not just that Dan has a delightful way with words (he’s been a speechwriter, Pulitzer-nominated journalist, a corporate communication strategist, a government policy expert, and a novelist). It's that he has an incredibly wide-ranging intellect that I envy and covet. His years of world travel and deep immersion in culture -- from Silicon Valley to Washington to Europe to Asia -- give him a cosmopolitan perspective and an empathy for all points of view.

His love of literature and history also give him insights into human nature, an invaluable asset if your job is persuasion. I worked with Dan as a journalist where we often teamed up to write about telecoms and this new-fangled thing called the internet. It was always a pleasure to work with him, not just because of his talents, but because of his sense of humor and camaraderie. I would recommend Dan unreservedly as a communication and policy expert. In addition, I highly recommend you take Dan as your guide if you need to navigate through pubs, souks, embassies, battlefields, ministries, archives, arrondissements, pampas or alps.”

Kourosh Karimkhany
StarStarStarStarStar

Dan's advice was particularly relevant because of his deep experience as a global communications and public affairs executive working and living in both the U.S. and Europe.

“Dan's strategic advice is truly helpful for EU policymakers. He contrasted how the U.S. and the EU are approaching AI innovation and regulation. He shared best practices in how to integrate AI into the workplace and academia from his personal experience as Founder and Managing Partner of StoryVenture, and as an adjunct professor. He counseled on steps that public institutions should take to lead with AI adoption and how to bring employees along on the AI journey. Dan's advice was particularly relevant because of his deep experience as a global communications and public affairs executive working and living in both the U.S. and Europe. He lives at the nexus of business, geo-politics/economics, thought leadership, tech & AI. I can't recommend him more highly."

Jorgen GrenDirector, Technology DGT, European Commission
StarStarStarStarStar

Dan's counsel was invaluable for the IMF media team, and his range is impressive.

"Dan's counsel was invaluable for the IMF media team, and his range is impressive. He covered everything from new power vs. old power, the new media landscape, mis/disinformation, building trust, persuasion, thought leadership, positioning communications and public affairs professionals as leaders of AI integration, and viewing AI as the ultimate stakeholder. Dan has a rare ability to thread the private sector, government, the multilateral world, tech, international and domestic. We'd definitely work with Dan again."

Pierre MejlakChief of Media Relations & Social Outreach, IMF

I like good coffee, a well-made martini, and toast.

Speaking

By fostering effective communication among team members, organizations can create a cohesive and collaborative environment where ideas flow freely, feedback is constructive, and goals are aligned.

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Key Benefits

Enhanced collaboration and teamwork.
Improved clarity and understanding among team members.
Increased productivity and efficiency in task execution.
Strengthened relationships and trust within the team.
Reduced conflicts and misunderstandings, leading to a more positive work environment.

To align team goals with organizational objectives, organizations must foster clarity, transparency, and alignment throughout all levels of the organization, ensuring that individual and team efforts are directly contributing to the achievement of overarching strategic goals.

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Key Benefits

Enhanced focus and alignment across teams and departments.
Improved coordination and collaboration toward common goals.
Greater accountability and ownership of results.
Increased employee engagement and motivation.
Accelerated progress toward organizational objectives and strategic priorities.