for me at every step. Every author should be so lucky. Eileen Johnson, this was, after all, YOUR idea! You shouldn’t have asked me that fateful question over coffee: “Craig, so you talk about stories a lot… what does that mean?” And Michael Cunningham, your ideas and comments on writing and structure are all over this effort. Thanks for the education you have given me. Michael Shelley, thanks to you for getting the ball rolling by truly understanding the power of stories and WisdomTools. Roy Lipner, you have one helluva team my friend. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
The illustrations and graphics that you will find here are the work of a very talented designer, Renata Graw. Renata, thank you for taking my chicken-scratch drawings and making them come alive. Your sense of clean but powerful design is inspirational.
And to all of the energetic, talented people of WisdomTools, past and present. They say that a good wine takes time to “cure,” and that it acquires its flavor in each step of the process, from the soil to the sunlight to the aging. WisdomTools is inventing an entirely new way to help organizations be more effective, and each of you added your own flavor to our company. Thank you for helping us build great stories and deliver client delight.
I wrote this book because I wanted to help people, to learn how to write, and to tell my stories in a different way. So I want to acknowledge you, the reader, for joining me in this journey.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE: PROBLEM
1. AWASH IN BITS AND BULLETS
Click, Click, Click…
We Are All Fighter Pilots
So, How Do We Com-mu-ni-cate?
Lots of Tools, No Blueprints
Building Muscle, Not Fat
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
PART TWO: SOLUTION
2. STORIES WORK
People Are Bulletproof
Gaining Traction
Why Stories Work
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
3. WORK STORIES
High-Stakes versus Low-Stakes Communications
Work Stories
Don’t Be Invisible
The Key Ingredient
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
PART THREE: TOOLS
4. THE WIN BOOK
Embarrassment of Riches
Win “File” to Win “Book”
Elements of the Win Book
Using Your Win Book
What a Win Book Is Not
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
5. THE STORY MATRIX
Panning for Gold
The Vertical Axis—Story Types
The Horizontal Axis—Performance Skills
Using Your Story Matrix
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
6. THE STORY COACH
Telling Stories
IGNITE
Using the Story Tools: A Six-Step Process
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
PART FOUR: TECHNIQUES
7. LEADERSHIP STORIES
Cutting through the Noise
Open Source, Not Proprietary
Putting It All Together
Story: “The New News Blues”
Lead
