As we stand amidst a world of unprecedented VUCA (velocity, uncertainty, change, ambiguity), the ancient art of storytelling may be the most essential tool that humans have to build a tenable future–not just for our companies–but for our planet. Stories are evolutionarily hardwired to engage our brains in ways that other forms of communication simply can’t. We must reconsider the role of storytellers, poets & novelists in all our organizations–especially when it comes to innovation. Storytellers possess talents & skills that are too often missing from innovation labs, start-ups and boardrooms–most notably deep-seated empathy, infectious language, comedic timing and big appetites for failure. As mankind races against the machine–with its ever-shortening technology cycles and heartless disintermediation of economies–the dusty old novelist might just be the one job title that will save us from having to build a time machine in the shadows of dead skyscrapers to defeat our robot overlords.