Storytelling has come of age in the business world. Today, many of the most successful companies use storytelling as a leadership tool. At Nike, all senior executives are designated "corporate storytellers." 3M banned bullet points years ago and replaced them with a process of writing "strategic narratives." Procter Gamble hired Hollywood directors to teach its executives storytelling techniques. Some forward-thinking business schools have even added storytelling courses to their management curriculum. The reason for this is simple: Stories have the ability to engage an audience the way logic and bullet points alone never could. Whether you are trying to communicate a vision, sell an idea, or inspire commitment, storytelling is a powerful business tool that can mean the difference between mediocre results and phenomenal success. Lead with a Story contains both ready-to-use stories and how-to guidance for readers looking to craft their own. Designed for a wide variety of business challenges, the book shows how narrative can help: * Define culture and values * Engender creativity and innovation * Foster collaboration and build relationships * Provide coaching and feedback * Lead change * And more Whether in a speech or a memo, communicated to one person or a thousand, storytelling is an essential skill for success. Complete with examples from companies like Kellogg's, Merrill-Lynch, Procter Gamble, National Car Rental, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and more, this practical resource gives readers the guidance they need to deliver stories to stunning effect.

Knowing your story is an essential component of effective leadership, but finding your story among the myriad narratives that fill your life isn't a simple task. Richard L. Hester and Kelli Walker-Jones have offered a path to finding your own story amid the powerful family and cultural narratives that may be obscuring your vision. The aim of this book is to show leaders how to explore their story of reality, tell it to other group members, and consider how it can be used as a resource for leadership. This narrative perspective holds that because there's always more than one story about a situation, we have choices about which story we will embrace. After more than six years working with groups of clergy, the authors have woven these stories together to create the fabric that is the backdrop of narrative clergy leadership. The book is an account of their pilgrimage. As you read you will have a sense that this is your pilgrimage, and it will encourage you into narrative ventures of your own.

Leaders all have stories-the events, perspectives, and behaviors that constitute who they are-but few are aware of what that story is or what is says about them. Leadership development expert Tim Tobin show how, by thinking of themselves as literally writing a story -with a plot, theme, characters, and an arc-leaders can take control of their story and become more effective, insightful, and inspiring.

Winner of the 2003 Trillium Book Award "Stories are wondrous things," award-winning author and scholar Thomas King declares in his 2003 CBC Massey Lectures. "And they are dangerous." Beginning with a traditional Native oral story, King weaves his way through literature and history, religion and politics, popular culture and social protest, gracefully elucidating North America's relationship with its Native peoples. Native culture has deep ties to storytelling, and yet no other North American culture has been the subject of more erroneous stories. The Indian of fact, as King says, bears little resemblance to the literary Indian, the dying Indian, the construct so powerfully and often destructively projected by White North America. With keen perception and wit, King illustrates that stories are the key to, and only hope for, human understanding. He compels us to listen well.

What's Your Story?" Using stories to ignite performance and be more successful is a leaders book. This book is written for people who want to make a difference; people who want to build, create, learn, share, and inspire; people who want to give themselves and others the powerful gift of story. "What's Your Story?" helps leaders enhance their performance by looking at their everyday communications differently. By learning how to use the right stories at the right time - success and failure stories - Craig will show you how to create strong connections with people and with the organization's strategy to enhance your performance.

Do Books provide readers with the tools and inspiration to live a fulfilled and engaged life. Whether it's mastering a new skill, cultivating a positive mindset, or finding inspiration for a new project, these books dispense expert wisdom on subjects related to personal growth, business, and slow living. Written by the movers, shakers, and change makers who have participated in the DO Lectures in the United Kingdom and the United States, Do Books are packed with easy-to-follow exercises, bite-size tips, and striking visuals. Practical, useful, and encouraging, each book delivers trustworthy, empowering guidance so readers can succeed in whatever they choose to "do." Do Story teaches the art of telling powerful stories. The book includes short stories on a variety of subjects; taken together they demonstrate a range of effective narrative techniques. Vivid, enlightening, and brimming with practical tips, Do Story unlocks the secrets to becoming a captivating storyteller.

Your Story Matters presents a dynamic and spiritually formative process for understanding and redeeming the past in order to live well in the present and into the future. Leslie Leyland Fields has used and taught this practical and inspiring writing process for decades, helping people from all walks of life to access memory and sift through the truth of their stories. This is not just a book for writers. Each one of us has a story, and understanding God's work in our stories is a vital part of our faith. Through the spiritual practice of writing, we can "remember" his acts among us, "declare his glory among the nations," and pass on to others what we have witnessed of God in this life: the mysterious, the tragic, the miraculous, the ordinary. With a companion video curriculum from RightNow Media, this is a "why not" book as opposed to a "how to" book. Leslie asks each of us an important question: "Why not learn to tell your story, in the context of the grander story of God?"