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The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative Hardcover – January 1, 2005

by Stephen Denning (Author)
3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative
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In his best-selling book, Squirrel Inc., former World Bank executive and master storyteller Stephen Denning used a tale to show why storytelling is a critical skill for leaders. Now, in this hands-on guide, Denning explains how you can learn to tell the right story at the right time. Whoever you are in the organization CEO, middle management, or someone on the front lines you can lead by using stories to effect change. Filled with myriad examples, A Leader’s Guide to Storytelling shows how storytelling is one of the few available ways to handle the principal and most difficult challenges of leadership: sparking action, getting people to work together, and leading people into the future. The right kind of story at the right time, can make an organization “stunningly vulnerable” to a new idea.
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  1. Print length
    360 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Jossey-Bass Inc Pub
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    078797675X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0787976750
  8. See all details
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3.5 out of 5 stars
29 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book interesting and helpful for understanding its points. They find the information useful and a good read for leaders. However, opinions differ on the storytelling style - some find it engaging, while others consider it dry and difficult to read.

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ReadabilityStorytelling
5 customers mention "Readability"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and helpful for better understanding. They say it's a good read for leaders, with good points that could have been communicated in 75 pages.

"...Despite the stated criticism, Denning makes really good points in this book. The book has my complete endorsement due to the great points...." Read more

"Good read for leaders!" Read more

"...I found this book interesting to read and greatly helped in better understanding what it takes to be a great story teller." Read more

"The author has some good information that could have been communicated in 75 pages, but he chose to bury the valuable nuggets in an ocean of words..." Read more

5 customers mention "Storytelling"2 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the storytelling. Some find it engaging, while others say it's not storytelling at all. The writing style is described as dry and hard to read, distracting from the main topic.

"...and greatly helped in better understanding what it takes to be a great story teller." Read more

"...one of my majors in college, so I am well-aware of the agony in reading philosophical text - instead of getting straight to the point, it meanders..." Read more

"The title of the book implies to me a very specific topic: how to tell good stories, for better leadership, in a business setting...." Read more

"..."story" in ways that aren't particularly insightful and distracting from the main topic. Really I blame the editor or the publisher...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Jazon Samillano
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great points but hard to read
    Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    I'm only in Chapter 2, and it is already clear that Denning makes a lot of great points in this book. It is most definitely worth every penny and more!

    My biggest complaint is that the book is written like a 19th century philosophy treatise! Philosophy was one of my majors in college, so I am well-aware of the agony in reading philosophical text - instead of getting straight to the point, it meanders and loses the reader after every third sentence! In the first chapter of this book, Denning goes on and on about things you could care less about for over 20 pages. I had a sigh of relief when he finally put down all his points in the chapter in just two pages at the end of the chapter!

    When I was reading in the plane, I thought at first the reason for my agony was that I was tired. However, each time I got bored with Denning's book, I switched to a novel, and I was not tired anymore! Hey, wait a minute! I thought this was supposed to be a book on storytelling! Why then was it written like an obscure Ph.D. dissertation? You don't believe me? See for yourself. Here's a sampling of the torture:

    "Second, the apparent paradox of zero improvement in performance from teams in organizations overall - along with extraordinary gains reportedly made in specific instances - reflects the fact that teams are found at both ends of the effectiveness spectrum."

    Now do you believe me!? :)

    I'm not saying the entire book looks like the glob you see above. My point is simply that there are numerous sentences here that will require you to pause, say "Huh?", and then reread. So, if you are a speed reading junkie like me, please be very patient! Speed reading is not recommended.

    Despite the stated criticism, Denning makes really good points in this book. The book has my complete endorsement due to the great points. Besides, as my philosophy professors used to tell me in college, if you don't have the patience to tread through the gobbledygook of philosophical treatises, then maybe you're not scholarly enough to major in philosophy!
    58 people found this helpful
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  • Donald Mitchell
    5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a Place in Every Leader's Day
    Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2005
    Verified Purchase
    Let me tell you a story.

    I read and review books about leadership in hopes that people will find the books that will help them do the right thing.

    Usually, I don't succeed in finding good resources as often as I succeed in finding resources that don't add anything to what Peter Drucker first said 50 or 60 years ago.

    I recently heard Steve Denning tell a 15 minute story about how he used one brief anecdote to develop the support he needed to help transform the World Bank from a lagging lender to poor countries into a premier source of knowledge management. I was transfixed by that story and immediately ordered this book in which that story appears.

    In The Leader's Guide to Storytelling, I learned that we often go into hypnotic trances when we hear such a story. I must admit that I did.

    In fact, I didn't even understand why the story worked at the World Bank until I read the book. Here's what happened. Steve Denning had been given an opportunity to speak on behalf of knowledge management for 10 minutes in front of some of the World Bank's senior executives. What can you do in 10 minutes? You can tell an arresting story that stimulates the hearers to fill in their own solutions that advance your agenda. And that's what Steve Denning did. Two leaders turned that anecdote into their idea of what the World Bank should do in knowledge management. The rest is history.

    While the story could have been built up into hours of interesting details, I found that the "minimal" version affected me much like Lincoln's Gettysburg address does. I felt the story throughout my body. I lived that moment with Steve Denning. And I understood both his point about story telling and about why brevity works better in business.

    The strength of this book comes in Steve Denning's experience in changing major agendas in large organizations. Although the book's title says the book is about storytelling, The Leader's Guide to Storytelling is actually about a new style of collaborative management that goes beyond the familiar boundaries of theories X, Y and Z. The notion is to invite a collaboration to achieve more worthwhile directions as the main focus of an organization.

    While other authors, such as Senge, Hamel and Christensen, argue for innovation to hide in the wings until it is ready to take center stage, Steve Denning persuasively argues that innovation can take the stage before it has fulfilled its potential . . . and accomplish more as a result.

    Everyone who reads this book will admire the moral legitimacy of that position. It's the viewpoint of a winner, rather than someone who is afraid to take on the toughest challenges.

    I intend to recommend that my university begin offering a course based on this book for all of its business and NGO graduate students.

    While most books about storytelling are strong on the storytelling subject (such as Annette Simmons' The Story Factor), The Leader's Guide to Storytelling puts stories into an organizational context in ways that only an organizational master can do. Most leadership books are written by professors and consultants, and the work shows that they haven't done much leading. The Leader's Guide to Storytelling is leading as described by a leader who did it from a weak position . . . the most important perspective in any organization. Those who are close to the problems and opportunities always see both well. How do they engage the rest of the organization? Steve Denning has the answers in his detailed chapters on what stories to tell, how to tell those stories and his thoughts on what leaders should do.
    53 people found this helpful
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  • Dom Villari
    1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing
    Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2006
    Verified Purchase
    As a training developer I've been interested in the use of stories in business for several years so I was excited to read Denning's book. However, the content was literally not worth carrying the weight of the book back home from a business trip. The book is meandering, repititive and poorly edited. It's one long train of thought loosely organized in a trail of chapter and section headings. Most of the book is filled with business cliche's and has little do to with how to construct and use a useful story. I don't find this surprising since I didn't find Denning to be a very good storyteller, nor were many of choice of other stories interesting. He has two "stories" from IBM executives which are really just three paragraphs of buzz words strung together. Denning has a very loose definition of the term "story." Finally, I totally picked up on the self-congratulatory vibe mentioned in an earlier view. It's thinly veiled in light self-deprecation. In reality, it seems more likely Denning is a rather lucky man who took a failed career at the World Bank and turned it into a couple of books. He views his work in knowledge management there as a triumphant turnaround in the face of "political" sidetracking, but I didn't get the sense he knew anything specific about knowledge management.
    52 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • lindsay326
    5.0 out of 5 stars Really useful book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    This contains good and useful information and illustrations for anyone interested in this subject.
    Report
  • JJ's
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Great read if you are looking at how to use storytelling
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  • lecaribou
    2.0 out of 5 stars Pas très agreable à lire
    Reviewed in France on May 27, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Tres théorique, le livre n'est pas particulièrement plaisant à lire, surtout si l'anglais n'est pas la langue natale (contrairement à made to stick)
    Report