The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling

By S Denning

Jossey-Bass, 2005

$38.95

Storytelling has been around for thousands of years in one shape or another, however it is experiencing somewhat of a renaissance in the corporate world. This is largely due to the work of Stephen Denning, a former executive with the World Bank and now author and consultant in the world of storytelling.

His latest book, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative, examines how leaders at any level, from the CEO, middle management or the frontline, can lead by using stories to effect change. The book shows how storytelling can help in handling the principal and most difficult challenges of leadership: sparking action, getting people to work together, and leading people into the future. He elaborates upon this with a number of case studies from companies such as Coca Cola, The Body Shop, IBM and Starbucks.

Denning includes an interesting chapter on taming the grapevine of gossip and rumour. He believes conventional management techniques are generally impotent and advocates that storytelling can neutralise untrue rumours by satirising them out of existence. All in all, the book is a refreshing read on how to apply an ages-old art to the corporate world.