Libby Kalucy, PHC RIS
 Transformational leaders change the world by generating enduring enthusiasm for a common cause, inspiring people to pursue new goals energetically and enthusiastically.
This fascinating book by Steven Denning explains and describes how leaders can communicate complex ideas and spark others into action.
In the sequel to The Leader's Guide to Storytelling Denning explores the full array of communication tools that constitute the language of leadership.
As he says in his preface, the book is not about generating power over others, but shows how to create power in and with others. Denning's own story of how his career took a turn for the worse is an immediate attention-grabber.
Reflecting on his own experience in introducing knowledge sharing and management within the World Bank from 1996-2000, he realised the extraordinary and unexpected role that storytelling played in transforming the World Bank.
This book addresses the ‘what' and the ‘how' of transformational leadership. The introduction uses the example of Al Gore's ‘robotic performances' in the US presidential election of 2000 to illustrate ten mistakes transformational leaders make - unclear uninspiring goals, lack of total commitment to change, incongruent body language, misreading the audience, and so on. The second part of the book describes how to avoid these mistakes through skilful use of narrative, so that the language of leadership has maximum impact.
The traditional rational model of communication - define the problem, analyse it and recommend a solution - works well to pass on information to people who want to hear it. However getting people to change what they are doing and act in a fundamentally new way with sustained energy and enthusiasm requires the key steps in the language of leadership. As the final section of this stimulating book explains, leaders follow the steps of using language to get attention, stimulate desire, reinforce with reason and continue the conversation.
Reference
Denning, S. (2007). The Secret Language of Leadership: How leaders inspire action through narrative. John Wiley and Sons, San Francisco.
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