The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative

by Stephen Denning

Book Overview

The book introduces the concept of narrative intelligence-- an ability to understand and act and react agilely in the quicksilver world of interacting narratives. It shows why this is key to the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787987891
• ISBN13: 9780787987893
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

The Secret Language of Leadership

Well worth the investment of time needed to read it. Well written and well researched.

The Advanced Class Notes for Narrative Inspiration

"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.'" -- Matthew 13:31-32 (NKJV) If I could only give a leader one book, it would be this one. Why? You can have the best ideas in the world, but if no one is interested, they won't go anywhere. How do I know? Consider that most of the effective ideas that are broadly applied were first conceived over 400 years ago. Why? No one knew how to explain the ideas using stories in the right way. Is that a problem in your organization? Sure, it is. I know people who have built major career successes out of telling one story, over and over again. Yes, I know that sounds silly, but it's true. When I first started working at the Boston Consulting Group, all my colleagues marveled at the brilliance of the strategy concepts. I was amazed instead by the power of the stories and started memorizing them. Within six months, CEOs of major organizations were hanging onto my words as though I had 20 years of experience even though I was only 24 years old. All I did was master telling those stories. I have long been convinced that story telling (something you can see done brilliantly in the Bible by Jesus) is the key to effective leadership. Until I found Stephen Denning, however, I never found anyone who could explain the process. I just knew when I had heard a good story . . . and would use the story whenever it was appropriate. Now, as a result of studying Denning's books, I can craft my own stories. If you have read Stephen Denning's earlier books, such as The Springboard, Squirrel Inc, and The Leader's Guide to Storytelling, I think you'll find this book to be the best of the bunch. If you haven't read any of them, just read The Secret Language of Leadership. Filled with examples, this book captures the essence of how you overcome the bias not to pay any attention to what people tell you. Denning recounts his now-famous experience in energizing the World Bank to share knowledge and analyzes why it worked to put the lessons in perspective. Most leaders make lots of mistakes. Denning helps clarify the problem by introducing the ten common communication errors that leaders make. He goes on explain six enablers of communication language (a clear, inspiring goal; a story about the leader's commitment to the goal; mastering the audience's story; developing narrative intelligence; telling truthful stories; and employing powerful body language while telling a story) and the key steps of narrative (get attention; stimulate desire; reinforce with reasons; and continue the conversation). You'll also find templates and exercises in the appendices. If those items don't make sense to you (and they probably don't), read and apply the book. Why do stories work so

The Secret Language of Leadership Stephen Denning

This was a truly inspiring book so much so that after I read it I recommended we purchase for our senior leadership group for Christmas and we did. So insightful and yet so simple. One of the best books on leadership I have read.

Story Telling in a very pragmatic and practical way

I enjoyed the book which is full of very relevant and concrete examples that really helped me understand the concepts and the approach. A simple review of what does and does not work well is included that I found very insightful. I'm far from being a good story teller but this book gave me the desire to try it very seriously and trying is often adopting...

EDNA and Transformational Leadership

There are four classical "levels of discourse": Exposition, Description, Narration, and Argumentation (EDNA). Exposition uses information to explain, reveal, "expose," etc. Description makes vivid with compelling details and figurative language. Narrative tells a story with a plot or explains a sequence. Argumentation convinces with logic and/or evidence. So what? Actually, a great deal if the objective is to communicate much more effectively. All of the most influential transformational leaders throughout history were great storytellers. They knew when and how to use the elements of EDNA to explain, to inspire, to entertain, and to convince others. What we have in Stephen Denning's latest and most valuable book is his development in much greater depth of information and insights he previously introduced in The Springboard, Squirrel, Inc., and The Leader's Guide to Storytelling. He also shares his thoughts about other dimensions of transformational leadership because he realized that "narrative wasn't the whole story. The secrets of leadership lay not only in the stories that were being told but also in the way the leadership goals themselves were formulated. Leaders could also use other tools like frames, questions, offers, challenges, metaphors, reasons, and so on." Denning explains how these and various other communication tools relate to each other, which are best for the given purpose (i.e. explain, inspire, entertain, and/or convince), and how all these tools can be "combined in a seamless leadership message" that can attract and (more importantly) then capture people's attention. In order to become fluent in "the secret language of leadership," Denning suggests, it is necessary to understand how transformational leadership can "communicate complex ideas and spark others into enduringly enthusiastic action," how those who are transformational leaders select and use words "to inspire others to become leaders." To sum up, Denning asserts that "sustained, enthusiastic change doesn't occur by osmosis or extrasensory perception. If leaders' inner commitment to change is to have any effect, they have to communicate it to the people they aspire to lead. True, the leaders' actions will eventually speak louder than words, but in the short run, it's what leaders say - or don't say - that has the impact. The right words can have a galvanizing effect, generating enthusiasm, energy, momentum, and more, while the wrong words can undermine the best intentions and kill initiative on the spot, stone dead." As I read this brilliant book, I was reminded of Howard Gardner's research on multiple intelligences. In his latest book, Five Minds for the Future, Gardner suggests that, to thrive in the world during eras to come, there are five cognitive abilities that need to be developed. Gardner refers to them as "minds" but they are really mindsets. 1. The disciplined mind enables us to know how to work steadily over time to improve skill and understanding