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Storytelling for Influence

4.7on LinkedIn Learning
Intermediate 1 hours English Course Certificate
SkillsStorytellingInfluencePersuasionNarrativeCommunicationPresentations

Is this course right for you?

Our take
Mike Figliuolo's LinkedIn Learning course targets a lever most communication training skips entirely: storytelling as a tool for influence.

Good for: Using storytelling to influence and persuade at work.

Skip if: You want clarity/structure basics or creative writing.

It teaches the narrative techniques — character, conflict, structure — that make a message land and actually move people, rather than just transmit information clearly. That's a genuinely distinctive angle: plenty of courses teach you to be clear, few teach you to be persuasive through story, and the latter is what changes minds in a meeting or a pitch.

It's aimed at people who need to persuade, so it's the wrong fit if you want clarity-and-structure basics or creative writing. It comes with a LinkedIn Learning subscription (usually a free trial first; free via many libraries), with a completion certificate as a learning record. Storytelling as persuasion is an old, durable skill (as of 2026).

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About this course

Most business communication training focuses on clarity and structure. This course focuses on a different lever: storytelling as a tool for influence. Mike Figliuolo teaches the narrative techniques — character, conflict, stakes, and resolution — that make a pitch, presentation, or update memorable and persuasive rather than just informative.

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Instructor

MF
Mike Figliuolo
LinkedIn Learning instructor
95K+ learners22 courses4.7 instructor rating

Mike Figliuolo is a leadership communication expert, author, and founder of thoughtLEADERS, LLC, who has taught communication and leadership skills to executives across Fortune 500 companies.

Frequently asked questions

It focuses specifically on using storytelling to influence and persuade — moving people to a decision or action — rather than general communication or presentation skills. The emphasis is on crafting narratives that change minds and drive outcomes, which is a distinct skill from clear writing or confident speaking. It overlaps with those, but the lens throughout is influence: how a well-told story shifts what people think and do.

How to structure a persuasive narrative, choose stories that resonate with a specific audience, use emotion and concrete detail to make a point stick, and connect a story to the action you want. It is practical rather than theoretical, giving you repeatable techniques you can apply in pitches, presentations, and everyday persuasion, rather than just explaining why storytelling works.

Anyone who needs to influence others — leaders, salespeople, marketers, managers, or individual contributors making a case for an idea. It assumes no special background, focusing on transferable persuasion skills, so it suits a broad professional audience. If your work involves winning people over to a point of view, the techniques apply directly regardless of your role.

Not by default — it runs on LinkedIn Learning, which is subscription-based — but a free trial is common, and many public libraries and universities give members full access at no cost. Check whether a library card or an institution you belong to already provides LinkedIn Learning before paying, since that quietly unlocks this course and the whole catalogue.

Yes, you earn a LinkedIn Learning completion certificate for your profile. Treat it as a signal of professional development rather than a formal qualification — persuasive storytelling is judged by whether you actually move people, not a badge. The real value is the techniques themselves, which show up in how convincingly your pitches and messages land.
Paid
Included with LinkedIn Learning subscription
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