Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results

by Gabrielle Dolan

Learn the authentic leadership skills that drive today's workforce to excel

Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results is an honest guide to achieving lasting business success by becoming a more authentic leader. Leaving behind the boring and mundane, this guide cuts to the chase with a frank and forthright style to provide insight that can radically transform your business. You'll learn how your communication style may be holding you back, and how a few simple changes can inspire your team, engage your customers, and remind you just how effective you can be. Storytelling is a powerful business tool, and this book shows how to find your own stories and dig deep to learn what's driving your leadership and motivating your diverse workforce. You'll successfully navigate the uncertain terrain brought about by mixed generational expectations, evolving technology, and a rapidly shifting culture as you learn to respond and adapt to become a more effective leader.

Communication is everything, and leaders are expected to be "on message" at all times. Today's workers want to know the "why" behind the "what", and this guide shows you how to tailor your message and your entire communication style to have the biggest impact.

- Cut through the "boring" and "bull" and be real
- Communicate with impact across all platforms
- Ignite your teams, your customers, and yourself
- Level up, step out, and discover what you stand for

The rapid rise of technology and social media has resulted in "information fatigue", and most leaders respond by communicating in logic and data. This approach has little impact on the shifting workforce demographics, and each new generation brings higher expectations from their employers and leaders. Ignite shows you how to exceed those expectations and become the authentic leader that drives today's business success.

175 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2015

About the author

Gabrielle Dolan can tell you a story or two.

In fact, it was while working in a senior leadership role at National Australia Bank that she realised the power of storytelling in effective business communication. Since that epiphany, Gabrielle has found her calling as a global thought leader on authentic leadership and business storytelling.

A highly sought-after keynote speaker, educator and author, Gabrielle has worked with thousands of high-profile leaders from around the world and helped countless of Australia’s top 50 companies and multinationals to humanise their communications - Telstra, EY, Accenture, VISA, Australia Post, National Australia Bank, Amazon, Vodafone and the Obama Foundation to name drop a few.

She holds a master’s degree in management and leadership from Swinburne University, an associate diploma in education and training from the University of Melbourne, and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education in both the Art and Practice of Adaptive Leadership and Women and Power: Leadership in a New World.
Gabrielle is also the bestselling author of Real Communication: How to be you and lead true, a finalist in the Australian Business Leadership Book Awards for 2019. Her other published books include Stories for Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling (2017), Storytelling for Job Interviews (2016), Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results (2015) which reached the top five on Australia’s bestselling business books and Hooked: How Leaders Connect, Engage and Inspire with Storytelling (2013). Her latest title, Magnetic Stories: Connect with customers and engage employees with brand storytelling will be published by Wiley in March 2021.

Bringing humanity to the way business people communicate isn’t just a career, it’s a calling. Her dedication to the industry was recognised when Gabrielle was awarded the 2020 Communicator of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators Asia Pacific region. The ultimate expression of her passion for the cause is her Jargon Free Fridays movement/ global movement (jargonfreefridays.com).

Reviews

[Mel Kettle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really easy read but packed full of great advice. Anyone who wants to improve their leadership skills or who has recently moved into a leadership role would benefit from reading this.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the book (local library audio copy) and enjoyed it. A lot of the material I already knew, but it was digestible, fairly focused, and a good and enjoyable reminder to help bring some of that back to the forefront of my thinking. And, there were a few things that were new and that really resonated with me. I am likely to purchase the book in paper copy form in the next few months in order to take more extensive notes and revisit salient parts in the future. Worth a listen, if nothing else.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost put this book down when it started generalising Millennials but I'm glad I finished the book. The author makes good points about identifying your strengths and weaknesses, finding your "real you" and presenting that to the world. She has a strong focus on story telling and communication throughout the book that provide great insights. The major annoyances of this book are the fact that she constantly references her time at Harvard (even going as far making a joke about how often she references it) and some of her advice seems to only work for people in positions of power. I know that when I was in more junior roles, there would have been no way to follow some of the advice she gave.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ignite – A completely refreshing approach to leadership and presenting.

Fact based, to the point with touch of humour providing an enjoyable reading experience.

Ignite emphasises the importance of authentic leadership and demonstrates the effectiveness of storytelling to engage your audience. Bound to challenge the redundant presentation methods saturating today’s corporate environments. Hands down an exceptional read with no beating around the bush!