Lessons from the Top: How Successful Leaders Tell Stories to Get Ahead and Stay There

Lessons from the Top: How Successful Leaders Tell Stories to Get Ahead and Stay There

by Gavin Esler (Author)

Synopsis

Great leaders have always understood the power of stories. Through the stories they tell, the most successful leaders educate, persuade and bring about change, but we rarely have the background knowledge to explore how they do so. In this hugely insightful guide to getting to the top, leading journalist Gavin Esler presents first-hand knowledge of the secrets of those who achieve power based on over thirty years' experience interviewing world famous figures from Bill Clinton to Angelina Jolie. Introducing the questions every leader must answer - and the elements that the best stories must contain - Esler explains how creating a leadership story can promote success at all levels, whether running for the United States presidency, or applying for a place at university. While many essentials of storytelling have stood the test of time, he examines the opportunities and pressures created by twenty-first century phenomena such as 24 hour news, and what they tell us about how to reach the top - and how to judge those already there. Spanning fields from business and culture to the military and even taking in lessons from terrorism, Lessons from the Top offers a fascinating portrait of leadership in the modern world - and shows how the methods of the most powerful leaders could work for you.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Profile Books
Published: 30 Aug 2012

ISBN 10: 1846684994
ISBN 13: 9781846684999
Book Overview: One of Britain's leading journalists and interviewers reveals what the stories that leaders tell can teach us about getting to the top - and staying there

Media Reviews
Gavin Esler brings to his writing the same insight and intelligence he brings to his work on TV. Refreshingly free of cynicism, this book takes some of the most significant events and characters of recent times, and shows how important the art of story-telling has been to all of them. It also has some excellent advice for those telling the stories, and those hearing them. -- Alastair Campbell
'A must-read for all aspiring leaders and speechmakers. Insightful and fascinating -- I loved it!' * Lord Digby Jones *
A book full of great stories which you'll immediately want to share. He's a superb guide to this vital subject. * Philip Delves Broughton, author of Ahead of the Curve - Two Years at Harvard Business School *
The best leaders somehow contrive to make a story about themselves simultaneously a story about us. In this fascinating study, Gavin Esler shows us how they do it. Even if you continue to be beguiled by great stories, this book will at least help you understand how they work * Philip Collins, former chief speech writer for Tony Blair *
This brilliant book has some of the greatest tales of the past two centuries * Wiltshire Society *
Fascinating stuff -- The Bookseller * The Bookseller *
Author Bio
Gavin Esler is an award winning television and radio broadcaster, novelist and journalist. He is the author of five novels and a non-fiction book, The United States of Anger. He currently presents Newsnight on BBC2 and Dateline London which goes out weekly on BBC World and the BBC News Channel, and is a regular writer and commentator across print media. He has interviewed leaders in their fields ranging from David Cameron to Dolly Parton, and Richard Branson to King Abdullah of Jordan.