I’m meeting with one of my clients. And she says to me, “Kymberlee, every time I ask you, ‘How are you doing?’ you always say, ‘I’m amazing.’ How is that possible, and how can I do it too?”

It’s simple. I tell her, “I’ve designed my life around everything I love to do.”

I love speaking, and I know that the best ones are great storytellers. I’ve gone from not knowing where to start with a story to doubling down on it and having it as a core component of what I do and teach…

I heard that Improv Comedy improves you as a speaker. And now I’ve gone from shaking with fear before I even got on stage for my first Improv class to teaching it every week and performing it multiple times a month…

I’ve been an athlete all my life and use the lessons I’ve learned from over 30 years as a martial artist to influence how I teach and how I see the world…

All of these career choices haven’t happened by chance. I’ve basically designed my future. And you can do it too.

My special guest today, Dane Howard, is an entrepreneur who has led teams around the world in designing world-class products for services and brands. And today on the Storytelling School Podcast, you’ll learn how design can inspire a plethora of stories and hear answers to questions like:

Why does design force you to become a better storyteller? What’s it like to be in the process of redefining your current story? How can visualizing allow you to extract and string parts of your story together? And how do companies like eBay and Amazon develop stories for their products and brands?

• What journey lines are and how they relate to storytelling
• Why rehearsing the future is required to become a great designer and storyteller
• How using AI can help you bring implausible stories to life

Dane is a strategic design leader & entrepreneur, willing to wear many hats. He’s led globally distributed teams for world-class products, services, and brands and served in principal design, operational, and leadership roles for companies like BMW, MLB, Microsoft, eBay, Samsung, Amazon, and more. Since 2015, he’s launched global experiences in several companies and led and grew remote and distributed teams. And all the while, he focused on scaling the design process across multiple business domains for growth-stage companies and beyond.

Dane is also an author, speaker, artist, and father. He launched Dane Howard Studio in early 2023, which is a collaborative studio specializing in generative AI, design and fine art for commercial and residential projects across apparel, fashion, sports, and exhibit design. He is also an advisor to standbeautiful.me, an anti-bullying movement promoting the acceptance of self and others.