Storytelling, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

Fernando Dolabela () and Eduardo Dolabela ()
Additional contact information
Fernando Dolabela: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Eduardo Dolabela: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

A chapter in Entrepreneurial Education in a Global and Digital World, 2026, pp 223-242 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This essay argues that storytelling is the most powerful language for inspiring innovation and shaping entrepreneurial mindsets. It contrasts the emotional impact of narrative with the limited reach of traditional academic writing, largely designed for peers rather than for actual or aspiring entrepreneurs. Drawing on recent works in entrepreneurship, economics, philosophy, and history, it shows how life stories—especially those that include failure, uncertainty, and ethical dilemmas—become vehicles for learning, identity formation, and cultural change. Entrepreneurship is best understood not as a set of techniques, but as an “art of living” comparable to ancient philosophical schools, in which narratives, exemplars, and daily practices guided the pursuit of a meaningful life. Focusing on the Brazilian context, the essay goes on to recover an entrepreneurial tradition obscured by dominant historiography and to contrast the cultures of employment and entrepreneurship. Finally, it argues that innovation, creativity, and the arts share a common root in narrative imagination, and that entrepreneurial education should therefore place stories—rather than formulas—at its core, helping individuals become authors of their own lives and co-creators of the future.

Keywords: Storytelling; Entrepreneurial education; Narrative; Creativity and the arts; Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:seschp:978-3-032-17008-8_14

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783032170088

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-17008-8_14

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Studies on Entrepreneurship, Structural Change and Industrial Dynamics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().