When transformation feels dangerous: Why the hero must become a player

The MICE industry and live communication have been grappling with transformation for years. But the industry itself is now in the midst of change. The pandemic has accelerated developments, professionals have reoriented themselves, and working conditions and business models are being re-evaluated. At the same time, artificial intelligence, new forms of collaboration, and digital communication platforms are changing expectations for events and corporate communications. Interview about the book "The Power of Storytelling in Transformation" by Petra Lammers, published in May 2026.

By Petra Lammers* || September 7, 2026

Storytelling has endured. But for Petra Lammers, the role it can play in change processes has fundamentally shifted: Instead of inspiring people with a grand narrative to achieve a goal, the focus is increasingly on making them active participants in that narrative. Petra Lammers, author of "The Power of Storytelling in Transformation," discusses the changes in live communication, the limitations of classic hero narratives, and how to transform the audience into active participants.

Interview: *Stephan Schäfer-Mehdi.

Shortly

"A strong narrative can provide orientation – but it doesn't automatically set people in motion."

"The heroine's journey is not simply the female version of the same story."

“People who can actively participate develop a different relationship to change than people who are merely told what is going to happen next.”

"I believe that this presents a great opportunity for live communication."

"Transformative storytelling gives us an additional answer to a question that has preoccupied live communication for years: What did our event actually achieve?"

Petra, you originally come from the theater and developed large-scale productions for companies. Today you are a transformation dramaturge. What has changed?

Storytelling and dramaturgy have always been at the heart of my work. We used to define a North Star and develop stories and productions around it. Strategic storytelling is, first and foremost, top-down communication: it tells us where we want to go. And when it's done well, this direction can inspire. We experience exactly that at many corporate events.

But I've repeatedly experienced in my work that enthusiasm alone isn't enough. In the rarest of cases does it lead to lasting change. The world is loud, dynamic, and almost everything is competing for our attention. A compelling narrative can provide orientation – but it doesn't automatically set people in motion.

Does this mean the end of the classic grand spectacle?

No. We still need a guiding star, a shared direction, and moments that evoke emotion. Live communication, in particular, can do this incredibly well. But simply telling a story and hoping everyone will then spring into action is no longer enough.

We've been talking about ownership and bringing people along for years. At the same time, we still see this gap between strategy and implementation, between top-down and bottom-up. That's precisely where collaborative storytelling comes in for me. And live communication is a particularly authentic space for this because people can come together simultaneously, react immediately, and take action themselves.

What distinguishes collaborative storytelling from classic strategic storytelling?

Once you know where you fundamentally want to go – once you know your North Star – you can communicate this direction through strategic storytelling. Classic narrative forms help to make change understandable and emotionally relatable.

The hero's journey is the best-known example of this: A character leaves their familiar world, faces trials, and undergoes a transformation. This is dramatically powerful. At the same time, it organizes the story around a central figure. The others follow them—or watch them unfold.

That's why I find the heroine's journey so fascinating. It's not simply the female version of the same story. Community, relationships, allies, and returning to a community play a much stronger role. For me, it's a bridge to collaborative storytelling.

Because with complex transformations, we often don't yet know the final path. Different people bring different perspectives, knowledge, and experiences. Collaborative storytelling therefore works with engaging formats and triggers that motivate people to take action. This process generates many storylines. The dramaturgical challenge lies in weaving these storylines together and continually aligning them toward a common direction.

That also sounds like a democratization of transformation processes.

Absolutely. We all know by now that the lone hero won't save the world anymore; we have to do it together. The challenges are so complex that we need diverse perspectives and expertise. And people who can actively participate develop a different relationship to change than those who are simply told what needs to happen.

Nevertheless, our understanding of storytelling, and to some extent also of leadership, is surprisingly strongly top-down: those at the top and those at the bottom. This is even reflected spatially – the elevated stage at the front, the "audience" below, listening.

For my doctoral thesis, I delved deeply into the academic literature on storytelling once again. There, too, one very often encounters the top-down narrative. Even when we talk about leadership, the focus is often on how leaders tell a good story. My current interest lies much more in: How do we create a framework in which many people can contribute to the same development?

Why is it still so difficult for companies to actually delegate responsibility?

Transformation feels dangerous. We are moving away from a stability we know. At the same time, the changes are so complex that no single mind can fully grasp, understand, or control them.

Let's look at AI, new business models, or the changing world of work: all these developments force us to learn continuously. No one has the complete answer. In fact, that's a strong argument for shaping the future together.

And yet we often cling to structures where few are expected to know and many are expected to follow. Perhaps this has to do with control. Perhaps sometimes with ego.

You specifically cite social media as an example of collaborative storytelling in this context. Why?

Because we experience this principle there every day. There's a framework: I can post, like, comment, and link. There are constant triggers – visibility, reactions, comments, or reach. And individual stories are connected to each other: through people, through tags, links, and of course, through algorithms.

This isn't yet a collaborative narrative in the sense of a corporate transformation. But the principle is very clear: many people tell their stories simultaneously, react to each other, pick up on something, and pass it on.

If this principle is applied to an organization and combined with a meaningful North Star, a space can be created in which people contribute their own stories and experiences – and still move in a common direction.

What does that look like in practice?

One example is the "Yuuki" project for Takeda. The starting point was the introduction and increased use of AI tools. Yuuki, a 3D avatar and AI expert, was initially introduced at an employee event and became the face of the digital transformation.

But the character alone wasn't the deciding factor. Around it, engaging formats emerged: employees tested AI tools in a gamified escape room, exchanged knowledge, and developed their own applications. The story then continued – with learning formats, exchange, and a platform.

That, for me, is precisely the difference: An event is then not just the place where a story is told. It can be a powerful plot point where people themselves become part of the story and from there, the story continues.

You have not only developed collaborative dramaturgy in client projects, but also explored it in a theatre experiment.

Yes. With "Everything is connected," we created an experimental space in the summer of 2024 to try out and further develop collaborative narratives. The theater once again proved to be an exciting venue for this. There, one can examine very concretely: Who is actually telling the story? Who is allowed to act? When does the audience become participants? And what happens when the story isn't completely predetermined?

For me, it was also a return to the origins of my work. Theatre isn't just about staging. It's a laboratory for behavior, relationships, spaces, and dramaturgy. Many questions that concern us today in times of transformation can be made very directly visible there.

You've now brought these thoughts together in your book, "The Power of Storytelling in Transformation." What prompted this?

Over the years, many individual observations and methods have come together: from the theatre, from live communication, from transformation projects, from working with managers and employees, and from my scientific work with storytelling.

At some point, it became clear to me that storytelling in transformation is often underestimated. It's not just about presenting a strategy in a more emotionally appealing way. Storytelling can also be a method for structuring a transformation and triggering organizational development: We need a direction, we need an understandable narrative of that direction, we need spaces and triggers where people can take action and shape things themselves – and we must constantly check what actually resonates.

The book attempts to bring these levels together.

Who is the book aimed at?

This is for people who shape transformation and ask themselves how a strategy can actually generate movement. These can be managers, communications professionals, or transformation teams – but of course also people from live communication.

Because our industry possesses an incredible number of relevant skills: We can translate complex content into spatial experiences, construct narratives, connect with people emotionally, design interactions, and combine digital and physical formats. The exciting question, in my view, is how we can better understand these skills as an integral part of long-term transformation processes.

Therefore, my aim in the book is to show that strategic storytelling is important, but only one part of the process. We need to transform people from audiences into participants.

What conclusions can be drawn for live communication at events and trade fairs?

I believe this presents a great opportunity for live communication. For a long time, we've focused too much on individual measures: the event, the trade fair, the conference, the campaign. In transformations, we need to ask more about how these individual moments are connected and what role they play in a longer-term movement.

Live formats have a special quality. People are in the same place at the same time; they can meet, react, experiment, and experience something together. This makes events very powerful moments within a transformation – but not automatically the entire transformation.

The challenge, therefore, is to develop formats in such a way that participation doesn't end with the conclusion of the event. Digital and physical spaces should intertwine; people constantly need opportunities to continue their own storylines, and these threads must be connected.

And we should consider impact in a more nuanced way. If semantic analysis can reveal whether key concepts and narratives are understood, adopted, or modified, we gain an additional answer to a question that has preoccupied live communication for years: What exactly did our format achieve?

Perhaps this is precisely the next development in our industry: not less staging, but a greater understanding of what dramaturgy can achieve. Not just creating a special moment – but enabling movement.

Petra Lammers was a theater director; today she calls herself a transformation dramaturg – and she's breaking with a dogma of live communication: the grand, top-down heroic narrative. Her thesis: A powerful story may inspire, but it doesn't move anyone in a lasting way as long as people only listen instead of participating. She is known in the field of live communication for her numerous award-winning productions. The agency onliveline, which she co-founded with Norwin Kandera, became onto[story] in 2025, an agency for transformation and storytelling. Lammers is working on her dissertation on transformation and storytelling; her book "The Power of Storytelling in Transformation" was published in May 2026.

* Stephan Schäfer-Mehdi is Award-winning creative professional in live communication.