Human resource development (HRD) practitioners are adding storytelling to their box of tactical and strategic tools. This qualitative research study investigates how HRD practitioners in for-profit settings apply storytelling as a means of advancing organizational goals. The primary focus of practitioners is on instrumental application of stories through face-to-face performance, and the decisions they make regarding the "mechanics" of the process: getting storytelling started, finding and selecting stories, and identifying or creating venues in which the stories can be conveyed. Two distinguishing features of strategic storytelling emerged in the study: the connection of stories to business goals, and provision of time following storytelling for listener reflection and dialogue. This article begins with a brief statement of the problem, purpose, and three research questions that drove the study, as well as a discussion of the theoretical framework, and a closer look at selected literature that contains it. This is followed by an explication of the methods applied to the design and data collection processes. Implications of the findings for the field and future research are also discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 5 tables.)