About
Roger Sorkin
"Solutions to humanity's greatest challenges start with strong narrative foundations."
Strategic Communications for a World in Transition
When a major airport's sustainability director confided to a colleague, “The last thing I need is another corporate video,” I was called in to transform their approach to building narrative cohesion – both internally across their workforce as well as externally with their stakeholders – to promote and defend the progress of their success of their sustainability and resilience efforts.
My focus on narrative gives me a systems view perspective, which allows me to unite strange bedfellows across a range of experiences and ideologies – from military officials to environmentalists to farmers, labor unions, politicians, policymakers, CEOs, faith leaders, and others, to help them see their own stories as part of the whole – a key ingredient for building the trust that is essential for continued progress during these topsy-turvy times.
I seek to re-frame stale discussions so everyone can see what’s in it for them, like uniting defense leaders and environmentalists to present fossil fuel dependence as our greatest national security threat, or showing that our food supply can be strengthened by helping farmers make it easier to plant the cover crops they need to reduce the effects of worsening erosion, or that microgrid installations can help first responders be more ready and improve public safety. The most effective narratives bring together the widest range of stories.
A Path Around the Pitfalls
As founder of the American Resilience Project (ARP), I've helped shape policy and influence leaders at the highest levels of government and business through authentic storytelling that connects on emotional levels and in memorable ways.
My simulation exercises have been used by trade associations, business schools and corporate executives to address communication challenges, and my films alone have over 5 million views, engaging over 3,000 policymakers at nearly 800 screening events, and resulting in numerous policy victories – even in today's politically charged landscape.
If your corporate communications have become so polished they've nearly lost their pulse, or your teams struggle to align around a cohesive narrative and wind up greenhushing your successes, or your messaging needs better calibration to the political or cultural realities of the day, we should probably talk.
Not Your Typical Communications Consultant
In addition to founding ARP, I’ve also worked with Spanish olive oil farmers to advocate for EU agricultural policy, helped NATO defense officials weave energy resilience discussions into their training exercises; designed communication campaigns for USAID to improve local economies around the world, helped the U.S. military advocate for environmental security priorities, helped faith groups mobilize around climate action, and a whole lot more. I've brought together some very strange bedfellows—from investors, bankers and politicians to farmers, veterans and environmentalists—and helped illuminate the path toward solutions that unite them around common purpose.
I've taught environmental communication to MBA students; given lectures at military academies and at NASA headquarters, moderated panel discussions with Navy admirals, CEOs, and world leaders; and run simulation role-playing exercises and workshops with chamber of commerce officials and city managers. An eclectic communication toolkit has been useful in service of overcoming a range of communication challenges. Time and again, I’ve seen how good communication strategies across teams and with specific audiences can inspire and motivate positive action.
Foundations
I began my career as the founding producer of a daily public affairs radio talk show and then moved on to TV and film, working on projects for National Geographic and investigative reports for PBS before starting my own production company that served a wide range of government, corporate, nonprofit, and academic clients in Washington, DC.
A strong foundation in ethnography and journalism has taught me how to quickly read a room, size up an issue, build trust, convene key audiences, and inspire action with stories and narratives that resonate on deeper human levels.
I was pre-med for the first two weeks of college at Johns Hopkins University until I came to my senses and majored in anthropology, and then went on to earn a master in communication at Stanford Univeristy. I live in the hills of Western Massachusetts, where I enjoy coaching youth baseball, playing music with my family, and watching bobcats try unsuccessfully to break into our chicken coop from my office window while I’m on Zoom calls.
At the end of the day, I always try to find some humility and humor, if only to help lighten the load of the enormous weight of issues under which we find ourselves at this point in time. In the moments that some of our global challenges might ever seem insurmountable, I try to at least give thanks that our arguably intelligent species has even existed at all across the great expanse of the universe, and I will always believe that better communication among us is one of the key requirements for improving our chances to stick around for at least another million years.