10 stories great leaders tell - Paul Smith - Review

An organisation can have outstanding delivery capabilities but can it scale without effective storytelling ability ? Moreover, if corporate presentations are all about data and plain text will it attract talent, investors or leaders ? When the emotional cord is missed in the narrative, an organisation is mostly likely to evoke a damp squib response despite a remarkable product line or solution. Paul Smith makes a valid point that storytelling can never be out of fad and will work across demographics in a timeless fashion to aid an individual's decision making process. 

Smith lines out ten questions that can capture the attention of all the stakeholders in an organisation, it’s important to realise that one may not have a truly resonating storyline for each question. Thus it makes prioritising the questions based on the standpoint and context of the respective firms. The questions are 

• Where we came from

• Why we can’t stay here

• Where are we going

• How are we going to get there

• What do we believe in

• Who do we serve

• What we do for our customers

• How are we different from our competitors

• Why I lead the way I do

• Why would you want to work here

Smith calls out ten different stories that provides compelling reasons behind each of the list questions. Amongst them the one associated with ‘where we came from’ and ‘how are we going to get there’ got me excited. The first question points to the founding story of why someone wanted to open a firm, in essence a backstory of the founder and the common pain point that ignited the eureka moment.

 

Back in the early 1990’s, Gary Erickson, a passionate baker, set off on a self set cycling mission to accomplish a 175 mile distance. Armed with half a dozen energy bars to fuel him through the journey, Gary discovers that the bars were sticky, had a disagreeable taste and weighed like a brick in his stomach when consumed beyond a limit. The first five bars had given him such a despicable taste lingering in his mouth that Gary decided to coast back the last 50 miles to San Jose on an empty stomach. 

Gary was already an accomplished baker and felt he had it in him to make an energy bar that can be tasty and healthy as well. CLIF bars were born six months later and by the third decade since it’s inception has clocked over 300 million dollars in annual turnover. Now, it’s clear why a founding story can inspire investors and employees alike. 

As mentioned earlier, it’s hard to find interesting storylines for each of the questions with respect to a single organization, which makes organisational context the key to priority decision.

There are few books that I chose to read twice, Paul Smith’s ‘10 stories great leaders tell’ is one of them. It’s an outstanding narrative delivered in crisp fashion. 

Highly recommended!