Stories for Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling

by Gabrielle Dolan

Learn the science and master the art of telling a great story Stories for Work walks you through the science of storytelling, revealing the secrets behind great storytellers and showing you how to master the art of storytelling in business. Stories hold a unique place in our psyche, and the right story at the right time can be a game-changer in business; whether tragedy, triumph, tension or transition, a good story can captivate the listener and help you achieve your goals. In this book, author Gabrielle Dolan draws from a decade of training business leaders in storytelling to show you what works, why it works, when it works best and what never works. You'll learn how to create your own stories -- authentically yours, crafted to attain your goal -- and develop an instinct for sharing when the time is right. In-depth case studies feature real-world people in real-world businesses, showing how storytelling has changed the way they work, motivate and lead -- providing clear examples of the power of this enormously effective skill.

Storytelling gives you an edge. Whether you're after a promotion, a difficult client, a big sale or leading through transition, a great story can help you smooth the road and seal the deal. This book is your personal coach for masterful storytelling, with expert guidance and lessons learned from real-world business leaders.

Learn why storytelling grabs attention and helps your message get through Master the four types of stories used in business settings Infuse your stories with the personal to highlight your vision and values Craft a selection of stories to pull out at pivotal business moments The oral tradition has ancient roots that unite all humans, and despite our myriad modern distractions, we still respond to a well-told story. Stories for Work helps you put this dynamic to work for you in any business scenario.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Communication, Audiobook

192 pages, ebook

Published February 7, 2017

About the author

Gabrielle Dolan can tell you a story or two.

In fact, it was while working in a senior leadership role at National Australia Bank that she realised the power of storytelling in effective business communication. Since that epiphany, Gabrielle has found her calling as a global thought leader on authentic leadership and business storytelling.

A highly sought-after keynote speaker, educator and author, Gabrielle has worked with thousands of high-profile leaders from around the world and helped countless of Australia’s top 50 companies and multinationals to humanise their communications - Telstra, EY, Accenture, VISA, Australia Post, National Australia Bank, Amazon, Vodafone and the Obama Foundation to name drop a few.

She holds a master’s degree in management and leadership from Swinburne University, an associate diploma in education and training from the University of Melbourne, and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education in both the Art and Practice of Adaptive Leadership and Women and Power: Leadership in a New World.
Gabrielle is also the bestselling author of Real Communication: How to be you and lead true, a finalist in the Australian Business Leadership Book Awards for 2019. Her other published books include Stories for Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling (2017), Storytelling for Job Interviews (2016), Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results (2015) which reached the top five on Australia’s bestselling business books and Hooked: How Leaders Connect, Engage and Inspire with Storytelling (2013). Her latest title, Magnetic Stories: Connect with customers and engage employees with brand storytelling will be published by Wiley in March 2021.

Bringing humanity to the way business people communicate isn’t just a career, it’s a calling. Her dedication to the industry was recognised when Gabrielle was awarded the 2020 Communicator of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators Asia Pacific region. The ultimate expression of her passion for the cause is her Jargon Free Fridays movement/ global movement (jargonfreefridays.com).

Reviews

[Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first ~40 pages had some genuinely useful insights into how to build stories and when to use them. However the remaining 2/3's of the book is almost entirely just examples of stories with some light notes from the author.

Many of the examples were not stories I would find engaging in the workplace. Full of vapid corporate truisms, some of them even break the author's own rules for storytelling. Hard to recommend this one.

[Daniel Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

While practical, the book lacks depth. Rather than being focused on the reader, its purpose seems to be to promote Gabrielle Dolan's high-margin services. Still, it is practical and has some use value. Feel free to skip the case studies at the end.

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

"These days, employees want fewer facts and less information, and more emotion and meaningful connection."

Ah, the post-fact world...This seems very true in my experience, for many employees, at least for employers that don’t have a history of not telling the whole story. And that is just one target audience (employees, especially those in a corporate change program or being “indoctrinated” with company vision and values) Dolan describes in “Stories for Work”. Dolan teaches how to find personal stories, how to tell those stories, and how to use them for presentations, sales, coaching, job interviews, and basic getting-to-know you conversations, in addition to the change and vision uses previously mentioned. Dolan’s suggestions are relatively concise and useful. There is more ink used on examples than on the procedures she’s recommending, and the examples are useful and interesting to show the format of stories and the emotional content. Key learning: make ‘em short – stories should be two minutes or less. I was concerned that this would be one of those books by consultants that are just an advertisement to sell her services, but this appears to be useful without hiring Dolan. Note that she really wants you to hire her, as most of the examples are from former students of her classes or from her consulting clients. And she includes many mentions of her consultancy throughout the book. Despite the advertising, I found the content useful and interesting, and I would consider reading another book by Dolan.

[Mike Guzowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

- mammals brain (emotional brain) and neocortex are what makes people the people and why stories works
- listen to good story creates oxytocin
- many times poeple make emotional decision and rationalize it with a logic
- logic + emotion is twice as effective as pure logic
- people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel

[Jen Severn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real good!!! Highly recommend

[Charles Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile read

Amongst all the dross and jargon-ridden books for managers it’s nice to come across one that deals with the human side of things. The advice on telling stories is sensible, and the motivation for doing so is clearly laid out. There are plenty of examples of the sorts of stories - anecdotes, really - that people have used to make their point and connect with their audience.

[Mirjana Marinkovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am quite disappointed by this book. I expected some more instructions and insight on how to build or write a good story. The book has very little of none of those. It is full with other people’s story examples which in my opinion were quite trivial. I haven’t learned much from this book.

[Mel Kettle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Gabrielle Dolan's for a while now, and loved her books Ignite and Hooked. In Stories for Work, Gabrielle outlines why storytelling is so important for business, and then shares eight types of stories that you could share - stories for presentations, for change, for sales, for job interviews and more. While Gabrielle's advice on how to craft a story was excellent, it's the examples and case studies that really demonstrated the power of a well-told story. This book is an excellent investment for anyone wanting to be more authentic in business.

[Felipe CZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book with great advice which helps us in our company and practically everywhere. By using the four types of story: tragedy, triumph, tension and transition, we can forge emotional connections with audiences and motivate our teams, but we have to look in order to find those great stories which reinforce our vales.

[Ruchin Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is about enhancing your imagination skills and creativity, in order to grab more out of something. Such skill can be used to understand better and for long retention. It can also be used to communicate more effectively.

Mind response more to emotions than to logics.

[Andrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crammed full of specific and actionable advice. Indispensable wether you already have some experience story telling or just starting out. The simple yet effective frameworks offered are nothing short of critical.

[Sarah Hardgrave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful reference tool that I definitely will refer back to again.
I read the book with a notepad beside me writing down ideas for my own stories.

[Enkhtuvshin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read 😊

[Craig Penfold · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great guide with many practical exercises and examples to show the power of storytelling in a business context.

[Fabien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent, intéressant, et qui va au but. Très bonne courte lecture avec beaucoup d'exemples.

[Cassandra C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some great examples of how to use stories for effect in work settings.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer if you've not told stories before. It's quite old now and I re-read this to remind myself ov the basics before reading Gabrielle's newest book, Story Intelligence.

[Lester · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of the book is very interesting, gives us a feel for how to categorize and document stories, an issue which I struggle with. The examples of companies and how they implement storytelling were interesting, but they went on a tad too long.

[Norini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of how to build a business story and why it is better than a PPT presentation.
Very accessible.

[William Brophy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to Read and Use

If you're serious about becoming a better storyteller within your business then read this book and immediately begin using its methods. Highly recommended!