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The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell
Every great leader is a great storyteller.
As a manager, CEO, or team leader, how can you innovatively engage your employees so that they understand where your organization came from, where it's going, and how you're going to get there? How can you connect with your customers in a way that makes them believe in your company as passionately as you do?
Paul Smith is one of the world's leading experts in business storytelling. He teaches people how to be more effective leaders by communicating their company's important mission, inspiring creativity, and earning the trust of valued stakeholders.
The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell explores the journey behind success, and breaks down not just the importance of your company's story but how to craft compelling ones of your own.
As a manager, CEO, or team leader, how can you innovatively engage your employees so that they understand where your organization came from, where it's going, and how you're going to get there? How can you connect with your customers in a way that makes them believe in your company as passionately as you do?
Paul Smith is one of the world's leading experts in business storytelling. He teaches people how to be more effective leaders by communicating their company's important mission, inspiring creativity, and earning the trust of valued stakeholders.
The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell explores the journey behind success, and breaks down not just the importance of your company's story but how to craft compelling ones of your own.
136 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2019
262 people are currently reading
612 people want to read
About the author
Paul Smith
7 books43 followersPAUL SMITH is director of Consumer & Communications Research at The Procter & Gamble Company and a highly rated leadership and communications trainer for P&G’s management training colleges. He is the author of Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives that Captivate, Convince, and Inspire.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
August 12, 2019
This book is really well done. Nice, compact size & a quick 45 minute read. Best of all, it’s captivating and inspiring. You’ll read it wanting to hear more and be inspired to write your own stories. Smith is an impressive author and I look forward to reading the rest of his books.
December 13, 2022
One of the things we've started to understand more and more as content on the Internet becomes king is the importance of narrative. People understand concepts and values the more that you can incorporate them into a narrative.
This book provides blueprints for how leaders at companies can tell stories about their organizations to help team members see where those organizations have come from and where they are going. Stories are so much more meaningful than buzzwords printed on walls.
A short, worthwhile read, particularly for leaders of organizations.
This book provides blueprints for how leaders at companies can tell stories about their organizations to help team members see where those organizations have come from and where they are going. Stories are so much more meaningful than buzzwords printed on walls.
A short, worthwhile read, particularly for leaders of organizations.
September 10, 2020
Very impactful and readily employed.
August 17, 2020
En general no soy fan de los libros de management, pero éste me atrajo lo suficiente. No sabía que existe una disciplina de "storytelling" enfocada a niveles directivos para ayudarles a decir mejor las historias que quieren y necesitan contar a sus empleados.
El libro es muy sencillo y al grano y da algunos tips básicos para buscar las historias propias que ayuden a comunicarse mejor y lograr mejores resultados.
PERO, no deja de ser un libro de management que no es del todo mi hit. Tal vez, algún día cuando sea director, vuelva a este libro a buscar la mejor manera de contarle historias a mi equipo.
El libro es muy sencillo y al grano y da algunos tips básicos para buscar las historias propias que ayuden a comunicarse mejor y lograr mejores resultados.
PERO, no deja de ser un libro de management que no es del todo mi hit. Tal vez, algún día cuando sea director, vuelva a este libro a buscar la mejor manera de contarle historias a mi equipo.
October 26, 2021
Meh! I Just read it because was free, nothing really new, just few interesting stories but nothing new for somebody who has read more books of this subject.
October 7, 2023
Story 1:
Where We Came From
(A Founding Story)
Story 2:
Why We Can't Stay Here
(A Case-for-Change Story)
11
Story 3: Where We're Going
(A Vision Story)
Story 4:
How We're Going to Get There
(A Strategy Story)
Story 5:
What We Believe
(A Corporate-Values Story)
Story 6:
Who We Serve
(A Customer Story)
Story 7: What We Do for Our Customers
(A Sales Story)
Story 8:
How We're Different from Our Competitors
(A Marketing Story)
Story 9: Why I Lead the Way I Do
(A Leadership-Philosophy Story)
Story 10: Why You Should Want to
Work Here
(A Recruiting Story)
Where We Came From
(A Founding Story)
Story 2:
Why We Can't Stay Here
(A Case-for-Change Story)
11
Story 3: Where We're Going
(A Vision Story)
Story 4:
How We're Going to Get There
(A Strategy Story)
Story 5:
What We Believe
(A Corporate-Values Story)
Story 6:
Who We Serve
(A Customer Story)
Story 7: What We Do for Our Customers
(A Sales Story)
Story 8:
How We're Different from Our Competitors
(A Marketing Story)
Story 9: Why I Lead the Way I Do
(A Leadership-Philosophy Story)
Story 10: Why You Should Want to
Work Here
(A Recruiting Story)
August 17, 2019
What stories do I need to tell?
To paraphrase Smith, telling the ‘right’ story is more important than telling it ‘right’. “The best leaders start by choosing the right stories to tell”. And in 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell, Smith shows how to select the ‘right’ story for the situation.
Selecting the right story to tell, was brought home to me just this week when I was asked to introduce the Regional Manager of a major bank at a fund-raising function for an international cycling event in my hometown in New Zealand. As MC’s often do, I started with “It gives me great pleasure to introduce …”. Then I paused. And paused (for what seemed like an eternity) and then followed with “When you hear speakers say, ‘It gives me great pleasure to introduce …’, I wonder does it really give them great pleasure – do you think so?” There was some general smiles and laughter, after which I continued with, “Some people may have heard the old saying of ‘running away to join the circus’, well I ran away, not to join the circus, but to join the bank – this bank. In fact I stayed there for 17 years – 17 of the best years of my professional career. And to top it off, five of my family also worked for this bank. So, on behalf of tonight’s organising committee, and the Selden clan, it does in fact give me great pleasure to introduce Adrian van Dyk, Regional Manager for Westpac”.
Smith suggests that every good leadership story should include a time, a place and a main character – simple hints and easy to follow. You’ll see that my story of introducing Adrian above, has all three of these elements.
When you recall some of the great stories you’ve heard from an inspirational leader, it’s easy to relate to Smith’s explanation of why you remember them so readily and why they were so impactful. They connect emotions with facts; they’re timeless; everyone has a story to tell no matter who you are or where you are from; facts are remembered through stories; when they’re good they’re shared with others; and finally, they are inspirational.
As you would expect, the book is well written, the stories are well crafted and told, and most importantly each of the 10 are excellent examples of how to select the right story for the right occasion. And they are everyday examples of how to select something that you’ve experienced and craft it into a story to suit one of the 10 areas of leadership outlined by the author.
There’s a ‘How to’ at the end of each chapter and a more detailed checklist at the end of the book.
At this point, I have an admission to make. I reviewed one of Paul Smith’s first books, Lead with A Story, and it has been an inspiration to me in my leadership journey over recent years. So much so, that my soon to be published What To Do When Leadership Is Needed, a book that shows leaders how to craft stories to run team meetings, is based on 25 stories!
I recommend this book to all managers who wish to become leaders – telling (appropriate) stories will help you quickly progress on your leadership journey. Oh, and if you’ve not read some of Paul Smith’s other books on story telling, get hold of them now! They are well worth the investment.
To paraphrase Smith, telling the ‘right’ story is more important than telling it ‘right’. “The best leaders start by choosing the right stories to tell”. And in 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell, Smith shows how to select the ‘right’ story for the situation.
Selecting the right story to tell, was brought home to me just this week when I was asked to introduce the Regional Manager of a major bank at a fund-raising function for an international cycling event in my hometown in New Zealand. As MC’s often do, I started with “It gives me great pleasure to introduce …”. Then I paused. And paused (for what seemed like an eternity) and then followed with “When you hear speakers say, ‘It gives me great pleasure to introduce …’, I wonder does it really give them great pleasure – do you think so?” There was some general smiles and laughter, after which I continued with, “Some people may have heard the old saying of ‘running away to join the circus’, well I ran away, not to join the circus, but to join the bank – this bank. In fact I stayed there for 17 years – 17 of the best years of my professional career. And to top it off, five of my family also worked for this bank. So, on behalf of tonight’s organising committee, and the Selden clan, it does in fact give me great pleasure to introduce Adrian van Dyk, Regional Manager for Westpac”.
Smith suggests that every good leadership story should include a time, a place and a main character – simple hints and easy to follow. You’ll see that my story of introducing Adrian above, has all three of these elements.
When you recall some of the great stories you’ve heard from an inspirational leader, it’s easy to relate to Smith’s explanation of why you remember them so readily and why they were so impactful. They connect emotions with facts; they’re timeless; everyone has a story to tell no matter who you are or where you are from; facts are remembered through stories; when they’re good they’re shared with others; and finally, they are inspirational.
As you would expect, the book is well written, the stories are well crafted and told, and most importantly each of the 10 are excellent examples of how to select the right story for the right occasion. And they are everyday examples of how to select something that you’ve experienced and craft it into a story to suit one of the 10 areas of leadership outlined by the author.
There’s a ‘How to’ at the end of each chapter and a more detailed checklist at the end of the book.
At this point, I have an admission to make. I reviewed one of Paul Smith’s first books, Lead with A Story, and it has been an inspiration to me in my leadership journey over recent years. So much so, that my soon to be published What To Do When Leadership Is Needed, a book that shows leaders how to craft stories to run team meetings, is based on 25 stories!
I recommend this book to all managers who wish to become leaders – telling (appropriate) stories will help you quickly progress on your leadership journey. Oh, and if you’ve not read some of Paul Smith’s other books on story telling, get hold of them now! They are well worth the investment.
September 10, 2020
Biasanya, visi misi perusahaan dengan poin2 yg membosankan. Mulai dr lowongan pekerjaan, brosur marketing, hampir semuanya disampaikan dgn monoton. Paul Smith memberikan cara lain, yaitu storytelling.
October 23, 2019
The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell by Paul Smith will show you how to pick the best stories to enhance your leadership.
See my full review at https://www.threestarleadership.com/b...
See my full review at https://www.threestarleadership.com/b...
December 14, 2019
Quick read that brings to the front of ones mind the proper way to get your point across through stories (specifically in business). Nothing terribly surprising, though a good reminder.
April 30, 2020
For a free book on the Amazon Kindle Web Store, its definitely worth a read, however, I found the book, even though it was a quick read, insanely repetitive.
Each chapter was formulaic, and followed this structure:
Introduce a concept, why the usual route does not work, people are bored by graphs, a story which outlines the concept, and hey presto, don't you as a reader feel empowered? Plus a few ideas on how to get started with your story.
Maybe if I was American, and was an executive having to sell an idea, then maybe this book would come in handy, but as a "Joe Bloggs" beginning their career, not for me, and clearly I am the wrong audience, so in that regards this book has a very, very specific audience.
Each chapter was formulaic, and followed this structure:
Introduce a concept, why the usual route does not work, people are bored by graphs, a story which outlines the concept, and hey presto, don't you as a reader feel empowered? Plus a few ideas on how to get started with your story.
Maybe if I was American, and was an executive having to sell an idea, then maybe this book would come in handy, but as a "Joe Bloggs" beginning their career, not for me, and clearly I am the wrong audience, so in that regards this book has a very, very specific audience.
December 25, 2023
3.5 stars rounded up. This is a very quick read (138 pages, took me ~20 minutes to read) on telling compelling stories as a leader, which seems targeted at C-suite or higher level company employees, with some prompts more suitable than others for repurposing if you're not in the target demographic. I think this content would have been better suited to a blog post or LinkedIn article, or fleshed out more fully with more examples for a book.
February 13, 2020
The little book that could
As leaders, one of the most important ways to clarify your ideas and inspire is through stories. While other books dive into the structure of a good story, this book aims to distill what types of stories are more powerful. Is it a marketing, strategy or a hiring story? Read The 10 stories great leaders tell in order to learn the differences.
As leaders, one of the most important ways to clarify your ideas and inspire is through stories. While other books dive into the structure of a good story, this book aims to distill what types of stories are more powerful. Is it a marketing, strategy or a hiring story? Read The 10 stories great leaders tell in order to learn the differences.
April 24, 2020
Some good insights on the power of stories & story-telling, though, pretty thin on content overall. A few good ideas & quotes. Giving it 2-1/2 stars in my Reading Log. A good reminder that stories are powerful and move/inspire much better than fact-filled PowerPoint presentations....or the dreaded monologue of facts & propositional statements. Got cheap via BookBub; read on my Kindle.
May 16, 2020
Good read - great story examples. I think it has some important takeaways from a leadership perspective. Fairly short though, could probably have been an article. I also think the last section (a short section on the art of storytelling itself) was written a bit lazily and briefly.
June 5, 2020
Quick practical book.
You'll have you homework laid out for you afterwards.
It's not incredibly deep, my guess it was designed not to solve everything, but to keep everything simple enough.
You'll have you homework laid out for you afterwards.
It's not incredibly deep, my guess it was designed not to solve everything, but to keep everything simple enough.
July 6, 2020
a business book about how a story have many impacts and how to tell those stories *tell, not share*. A bitesize book I would say, and its really captivating and keeps me wondering what kind of story I'll read in the next chapter
August 23, 2021
Kurz alles wichtige zusammengefasst, ansprechend präsentiert. Die Hauptaussagen werden gut vermittelt.
Teilweise hätte ich mir mehr Informationen gewünscht, aber dann hätte ich die Vollversion lesen können.
Empfehle ich allen.
Teilweise hätte ich mir mehr Informationen gewünscht, aber dann hätte ich die Vollversion lesen können.
Empfehle ich allen.
February 6, 2023
Paul Smith makes storytelling so easy with his book, The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell. Steps, ideas, checklists and workbook help you to make your own version of each story depending on priorities and availability. Definitely a starter kit for most of us.
June 18, 2024
Easy and practical read. Would recommend it to early in career leaders to illustrate the importance of storytelling in business. Great examples of the types of stories to create for various audiences. Short and sweet never hurts.
August 29, 2025
Great quick read to learn how to most effectively communicate the meaning, purpose and history of your business to a variety of audiences.
Will use the questions to help me write our business stories one by one.
Will use the questions to help me write our business stories one by one.
April 3, 2020
Great book,
I love storytelling, and this focus that the author use is really great to provide a good message to my team.
I love storytelling, and this focus that the author use is really great to provide a good message to my team.
May 7, 2020
Short and interesting reading.
September 2, 2020
Me agradó como con historias sencillas se puede dar un enfoque diferente y ver las prioridades.
January 2, 2021
Nice little book. A little bit shallow on the content and theory about the “how”, but still a very compact. Easy to follow guidelines to set your stories foundations.
January 4, 2021
Good but boering
April 30, 2021
Way too compact. Thought it was browsing through notes with added anecdotes as afterthought. Could have been more elaborate
January 24, 2022
know your why and express it an engaging story to the right audience and timing and morale of the story.
July 4, 2022
TEAD JUL 2022
Nice list of stories leaders at all levels can tell.
Nice list of stories leaders at all levels can tell.
July 25, 2022
Good stories, but not anything outside the obvious.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews