Think clearly.
Decide wisely.
Lead meaningfully.

Story Academy helps leaders and professionals turn complexity into clear decisions and meaningful action through narrative-based methods and human-centered leadership tools.
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“When we understand our story, we find the clarity and courage to shape what comes next.”
Olivia Kollnig MBA

The Story Academy can help you:

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Understand your story and shape it with intention

Gain insight into what drives you or your team, and find language and direction that feel clear, authentic, and aligned.
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Find clarity in times of profound change

Whether you’re navigating personal shifts or leading through complexity, you gain a calm inner compass that strengthens clarity and decision-making.
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Develop a vision that carries you forward

A meaningful direction rather than a rigid master plan, a sense of the future that guides your next steps, individually or as a leader of people and projects.

What We Do

All of our learning paths are designed to meet these goals:

We teach human-centered leadership to develop narrative clarity.

Through courses, coaching, retreats, and tools, we help you uncover what is true for you, and what your next step can be.

We support people and teams in moments of exceptional change.

When life, work, or leadership becomes complex, we help you build inner orientation and direction.

We provide learning experiences that create meaning for your life.

Short lessons, practical exercises, and a warm, grounded voice that guides you through real transformation.

The Hanashi Mori™ Narrative Method

The method is a powerful framework for clarity and direction that can be applied for both individual and business contexts. This method drives all of our course offerings.

Learn more by following one of our courses.
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Root

Understand what makes your story worth telling

Spark

Identify the energy that drives your next step

Vision

Shape a future you can feel and follow

Anchor

Create the stability to move forward with confidence
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Featured Programs

The Story Academy offers the following signature programs:

  • Story-Driven Project Management™
  • Hanashi Mori™ 
  • 1:1 Coaching & Executive Story Sessions
  • Inspiring Retreats in the Austrian Alps
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Why Story-Based Leadership works

It creates clarity.
Stories help us understand where we are and what’s possible next. We start to weave together the moments, emotions, and insights that give direction to our next step.

It builds confidence.
Stories give meaning to complexity and help us recognize our strengths. As things become clearer, decision-making feels steadier, more grounded, and more aligned with what truly matters.

It transforms leadership.
Stories connect people to purpose and direction. Teams follow leaders who communicate with depth, clarity, and authenticity and who make space for the human experience inside the work.
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About

Hi, I'm Olivia

I am a clarity architect, hybrid transformation consultant, and founder of the Story Academy.

For more than 20 years, I have worked in international project and transformation contexts, based in the UK, the US, Germany, and Austria. My work has always taken place where complexity is high, pressure is real, and decisions matter;  supporting people and organizations to regain orientation when roles, priorities, or direction become unclear.

Today, I work at the intersection of organizational reality, leadership responsibility, and narrative clarity. Drawing on my background in project leadership, transformation work, and psychological counseling, I help individuals and teams make sense of their working reality, clarify what truly matters, and take the next grounded step forward.

My work is not about telling better stories, it is about making those stories, those work realities, visible, so that decisions and action become possible again.

Here's what learners say about Story Academy:

Daniel H.,
Senior Project Manager, Nashville, TN
"This course changed the way I lead.
I finally understood why our projects were stalling, it wasn’t the plan, it was the story behind the plan.

Olivia’s approach brought a level of clarity and calm I didn’t know I needed. For the first time, my team feels aligned and supported. The structure gave us language for things we were all feeling but never addressing. I’ve managed projects for over 15 years, and this is the first method that truly acknowledges the human experience inside the work. Every PM should learn this.”
LIsa K.,
Team Lead,
Vienna, Austria
"Our team culture shifted within two weeks. The Spark and Anchor tools were a revelation for us.

We had been running on pressure and efficiency for months. After implementing just two of Olivia’s techniques, meetings became calmer, communication became clearer, and people started taking ownership again. 

This is more than a course. It’s a new way of leading.”
Johnathan M.,
Product owner,
London, England
“Finally, a leadership approach that makes sense in real life.

I’ve done countless leadership and Agile trainings, but none of them addressed the emotional reality of working in complex projects. Olivia’s method hit home immediately.

The Story Audit alone was worth the entire course. It helped us identify unspoken tensions that were slowing everything down. We moved faster in one month than we had in the previous quarter.”

Live a great story. What's yours going to be?

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