John P. Kotter, a renowned expert on leadership at the Harvard Business School (mini bio below), recently wrote a piece in Forbes called, “The Power Of Stories.”
The article has some nice nuggets of insight and wisdom on storytelling and storytelling for leaders.
Here are a few of my favorite nuggets… all are direct quotes from the article.
– “Those in leadership positions who fail to grasp or use the power of stories risk failure for their companies and for themselves.”
– “We learn best–and change–from hearing stories that strike a chord within us.”
– “Too few business leaders grasp the idea that stories can have a profound effect on people.”
– “The gestures made (or not made) by leaders can turn into the stories that powerfully affect behavior.”
– “Sam Walton was famous for the stories told by and about him, especially those that featured his visits to his [Wal-Mart] stores.”
– “The stories that a company broadcasts about itself can also have a powerful impact on customers, shareholders and employees.”
Kotter posed two very interesting and compelling questions that we should ask ourselves every day.
Question 1: “What are the stories that define us in light of our customers, employees and shareholders?
Question 2: “Are these the stories we want to tell – and have others tell about us?”
Mini Bio, John P. Kotter
The HBS article includes this bio, John P. Kotter, a renowned expert on leadership at the Harvard Business School, has been the premier voice on how the best organizations actually “do” change. His bestseller, Leading Change–with an actionable, eight-step process for implementing successful transformations–became the change bible for managers around the world.
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Improve (dramatically) your storytelling, public speaking, and communication skills
FURTHER READING ON STORYTELLING
- Everyone has a Story to Tell, and You Need One Too (read)
- Getting to Yes – Make Body Language Work for You (read)
- Keeping it Real – Learn to Heed Your Authentic Voice (read)
- Turn Your Personal Experience into an Engaging, Powerful Story (read)
- Tip – An Easy Way to Start a Presentation, Share a “Today Story” (read)
- All Storytelling for Sales posts (go)
- All Storytelling for Leaders posts (go)
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#chiefstoryteller #storytelling #communication #storytellingforleaders #storytellingforsales #datastorytelling