The Power of Storytelling: Captivate, Convince, or Convert Any Business Audience UsingStories from Top CEOs

by Jim Holtje

A guide to crafting unforgettable, attention-grabbing business communications-from speeches and letters to business plans-using stories from the world's top business leaders. The world's foremost business leaders are also great storytellers. For example, industry titan Jack Welch has told how his mother instilled enough tough love and confidence in him to overcome the fact that he was the shortest kid in his class and had a severe stutter. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, often tells a story of setting up the company's first office in a converted garage. The Power of Storytelling collects the best of these stories, which readers can use to strengthen their own communication. It's an easy-to-use reference for anyone who needs to lead, inspire, and motivate an audience in a business setting, whether they're writing speeches, pep talks, interview talking points, employee letters, or Op- Eds. With anecdotes from Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Ted Turner, Steve Jobs, and many more, this is an inspiring and immensely useful tool.

336 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2011

Reviews

[Fred Lechuga · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some books should not be turned into an audiobook.

[Bonnie Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories about successful people and some of their learning experiences along the way.

[Aliyu Abdullahi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pls can someone assist me with the pdf copy I am in Nigeria it's to get the hardcopy of some books here

[Gary Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with well founded anecdotal advice which we all benefit from at various stages in our lives be it on a personal or professional level.

[Helfren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long book to read but the power of storyteller definitely is real. Years after the speech or the meeting, how will your subordinate will remember your message? They won't remember the numbers, the chart, the figure and all. Instead they will only remember the story you told them. The book uses the idea of story to deliver a message that lasts.

[Manu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book that is a compilation of 150+ short stories with unique themes that can be used in various situations & during various conversations. This book actually talks very little about the power of story telling. It is just a collection of very interesting stories told by some of the world's greatest leaders in their times.

This book has stories from leaders like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Bloomberg, Dell, Packard, Meg Whitman and the list goes on. These are actual stories that leaders like these either lived or used to tell very often to put their point across very clearly to motivate others towards the call to action.

Every story ends with a short paragraph summarizing a hypothetical conversation where that particular story would be a great fit. I loved this part the best as one can think of many relevant conversations where that particular story would be a great fit - this is the real power of story telling and this is the power of this book. Although 150+ stories might be a bit too many to remember after 1st read but I can bet that you would be able to remember very clearly as many stories from this book depending on as many you can relate them to the conversations you have had or you are likely to have in near future.

A handy collection of ready to go stories that would be a great asset for any leader!

[Nagaraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference book. However, as author says in his intro, it is wonderful to read the book because one get to know so many business leaders and their stories. Only one drawback for the book is the lack of bibliography. If Author summarized all the books at the end of the book, it will be wonderful. Without this, one has to go through each leaders story to get their (auto)-biography book name. Easy read and lots of interesting info without reading so many biographies.

[Leland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good compilation of stories from leaders of industry but it did not teach how to deliver a good story.

[Mikhael De vera · Rating 1 out of 5]

A misleading book with both a colorful cover and title.