Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
55th out of 110 books
—
22 voters
The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative
The book introduces "the concept of narrative intelligence--"an ability to understand and act and react agilely in the quicksilver world of interacting narratives. It shows why this is key to the central task of leadership, what its dimensions are, and how you can measure it. The book's lucid explanations, vivid examples and practical tips are essential reading for CEOs, m...more
Hardcover, 279 pages
Published
October 1st 2007
by Jossey-Bass
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
110)
Leading with a passion
This isn’t just another book about how to become a better manager; it’s about how to use language to become an “inspirational leader” who can bring about transformation and lasting change. Stephen Denning explains that transformational leadership is not the sole providence of an extraordinary few. Anyone with enough vision, commitment and grit to master a basic set of skills that he calls the “language of transformational leadership” can become a leader who creates change....more
This isn’t just another book about how to become a better manager; it’s about how to use language to become an “inspirational leader” who can bring about transformation and lasting change. Stephen Denning explains that transformational leadership is not the sole providence of an extraordinary few. Anyone with enough vision, commitment and grit to master a basic set of skills that he calls the “language of transformational leadership” can become a leader who creates change....more
I totally agree with Denning’s core message that effective leaders have “narrative intelligence,” which taps into our innate and emotional attachment to stories. My favorite take-away is Denning’s articulation of a way to leverage confirmation bias. Instead of building an argument with reasons that culminate in a proposal, start with a story that engages the audience emotionally. Take the time to put them in the story in a role where they can see themselves succeeding. Then present reasons. Denn...more
The main message of this book is that you shouldn't try to convince people of things with logic and reasoning but rather use stories to grab attention and stimulate desire before finally reinforcing with reasoning. He describes some interesting experiments demonstrating that trying to use reasoning to convince people of things simply makes them cling even more tightly to their original views. He also discusses the general approach for forming effective stories and what sorts of stories should be...more
It's an interesting book, with some valuable information. However, I find that the quality varies strongly from chapter to chapter. Some you can read effortlessly, and others are so hard to read I can read them twice and still not know whether I got the message or not.
Overall the book doesn't present something new and revolutionary, and does definitively not teach you any secret language. It does, however, competently take you through how to make your message stronger and more convincing through...more
Overall the book doesn't present something new and revolutionary, and does definitively not teach you any secret language. It does, however, competently take you through how to make your message stronger and more convincing through...more
What we have in Denning’s latest and most valuable book is his development in much greater depth of information and insights he previously introduced in The Springboard, Squirrel, Inc., and The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling. He also shares his thoughts about other dimensions of transformational leadership because he realized that “narrative wasn’t the whole story. The secrets of leadership lay not only in the stories that were being told but also in the way the leadership goals themselves were...more
I like the idea. At first read the book didn't sell me on the concept, and I wanted to be sold.
Denning creates a straw man of the way business people typically communicate: analyze a problem logically, then give a solution. If only business people were actually so logical! Then, he offers a better alternative: get attention, create desire, satisfy the desire. But this is the ancient Greek rhetorical method! It has been around for a couple thousand years! How could it still be 'the secret language of leadership'? Aaarrgh.
May 17, 2013
Jennifer Parvin
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Dominik
marked it as to-read
May 04, 2013
Alexander Milanov
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2013
Julie
marked it as to-read
Apr 03, 2013
Cariadne
is currently reading it
Mar 21, 2013
Angela
marked it as to-read
Mar 09, 2013
Xiaomabeau
marked it as to-read
Feb 26, 2013
Supriyo Chaudhuri
is currently reading it
Feb 25, 2013
Eric
marked it as to-read
Feb 10, 2013
Amy
marked it as to-read
Feb 04, 2013
Cora
marked it as to-read
Jan 26, 2013
Nad Petre
marked it as to-read
Jan 25, 2013
Vjeran Buselic
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
