About
I know what it means to outgrow the story you built.
Paige Williams is a Narrative Intelligence researcher, founder, author, filmmaker, speaker, and innovation strategist working at the intersection of story, human judgment, identity, and change.
She is the founder and CEO of StoryKeys, a Human Judgment Platform applying Narrative Intelligence to consequential decisions, and Founder & Executive Producer of 100 Stories — a podcast and upcoming national festival about the stories we live by and what it takes to change them.
Paige is the bestselling author of The Twelve Creative Keys. Previously, she founded and led AudPop, a global media technology company and creator community that awarded approximately $10 million to filmmakers.
Paige developed the five-capacity Narrative Intelligence framework — Recognition, Discernment, Flexibility, Agency, and Enactment — through her research into how people consciously relate to the stories through which they interpret experience.
Her work draws on narrative psychology, philosophy, human development, behavioral science, organizational practice, and more than two decades of work across storytelling, entrepreneurship, leadership, and social change.
She continues to deepen the work through research, interviews, collaboration, and study with leading thinkers and practitioners, including David B. Drake, PhD, a pioneer in Narrative Coaching and developmental practice.
Her current work spans research, technology, media, writing, speaking, and strategic advisory — all organized around one central question: How do the stories through which we interpret experience shape what we believe, decide, and do?
At a glance
Credentials
- Creator
- Narrative Intelligence framework
- Author
- The Twelve Creative Keys — #1 Amazon Best Seller, second edition
- Founder
- Built and led AudPop for twelve years
- Community
- 80,000+ filmmakers and creators served through AudPop
- Archive
- 14,000 short films in the AudPop platform archive
- Host
- 100 Stories: The Narrative Intelligence Project
- Clients & stages
- Microsoft, Nasdaq, ALPS, Montana Chamber of Commerce, University of Montana
My work
What I do
Strategic Advisory
Private strategic partnership for innovators leading complex, original, or high-stakes work without a playbook.
Speaking
Keynotes and facilitated experiences from a keynote speaker on leadership and creative change.
Organizations
Workshops, executive sessions, and retreats for teams navigating change, growth, and reinvention.
100 Stories
An ongoing inquiry with leaders, creators, and researchers into how malleable the stories we live by really are.
The framework
What is Narrative Intelligence?
Narrative Intelligence is the capacity to recognize the narratives shaping how you perceive and interpret what is happening, discern their influence, remain flexible when circumstances change, exercise meaningful agency, and translate new understanding into action.
For leaders, that matters because the stories we operate from influence the decisions we make, the possibilities we can see, and the cultures we help create.
The book
The Twelve Creative Keys
The Twelve Creative Keys grew from my own experience of building, creating, losing, changing direction, and beginning again. It is a #1 Amazon bestseller for women navigating transition.
The twelve keys offer practical ways to work with uncertainty, resistance, creativity, identity, and the moments when the old way of doing things no longer fits.
The assessment
How the Narrative Intelligence Assessment works
The assessment is a starting point — a structured way to see the story you are currently leading from, before deciding what to do about it. It lives with the tools and programs at StoryKeys.
1
Answer honestly
A series of prompts about how you interpret, decide, and act — not who you wish you were, but how you actually operate today.
2
See your profile
Your responses are mapped against the five capacities of Narrative Intelligence — SEE, SORT, EXPAND, CHOOSE, and LIVE — so you can see where your narrative capacity is strong and where it is narrow.
3
Know where to work
You leave with a clearer picture of the story you are leading from, and a practical sense of which capacity to build next.
Private Strategic Advisory
For work that keeps evolving.
A six-month private thinking partnership for founders, researchers, executives, creators, and leaders navigating consequential decisions, emerging ideas, complex transitions, and work that doesn't fit neatly inside an existing playbook.
Inquire about Strategic Advisory