Lead With a Story

By Paul Smith

Paul Smith is one hot ticket in the world of business. Storytelling. It’s where the money is.

It’s where Lead With A Story is. This book came from the year 2013 so I can forgive the subhead — A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives that Captivate, Convince, and Inspire.

This may be sufficient evidence for many to avert their purchasing glances. It would be a travesty were they to do so but a worthwhile lesson for Smith and his clan to try harder next time.

However, what Paul is preaching is not how to design eye-catching book covers. His is to demonstrate the value of storytelling in the organisation to grow your customer base, grow trust, and grow likeability.

Because I’m regularly smart on Mondays, I wouldn’t call this storytelling, which is the poster child word of snappy 2017 design agencies.

I’d call it STORYSELLING. But then, I wrote a press release all about a men’s version of afternoon tea, with the headline: Move Over, Darjeeling.

I don’t expect everyone to have the same genius. That’s their prerogative. You can’t BUY this stuff.

But you can buy Lead With A Story — and Paul Smith is hoping your punters will buy more of your stuff as the result of his advocacy being ravenously consumed by your marketers and senior management team.

Paul’s gone so far as to actually include story frameworks you can use in a range of different business scenarios.

I see Lead With A Story as a tonic to the mundane business books of which of late we have witnessed a barrowload. It’s a complement to the work done by Nancy Duarte, graduate of such seminal presentation works as Illuminate and Slide:ology. I can see how you could learn from Paul’s book, and then dress it up for the big screen with lessons from Nancy and the Duarte crew.

You should definitely buy Lead With A Story. I say definitely; I wouldn’t buy it if I was in prison. You’d be better off with smokes.