Customer Reviews
A Really Practical Guide to Using Narrative for Transformation - By: Richard M. Seel, 26 Jan 2008 
This is probably Steve Denning's best book so far. It's written in an easy style with good illustrations. Denning's comparison of Al Gore in 2000 & Al Gore in 2006 is excellent & helps make the point very forcefully.
The focus of the book is transformational leadership. I was very struck by this sentence: "Managers are appointed by other people. Leaders appoint themselves." (p. 42)
Instead of the traditional, 'Define problem - Analyse problem - Recommend solution' sequence of linear management, Denning recommends 'Get attention - Stimulate desire - Reinforce with reasons'.
This three-part sequence is much more likely to be a trigger for transformational change. As he puts flesh on these bones, Steve Denning elaborates: to get attention a negative story is best, though other things will work as well. To stimulate desire use a story, preferably a 'Springboard' story as described in his first book. To reinforce with reasons it is still good to use stories.
The book gives enough detail & a wide enough range of suggestions to give the reader a good grounding in the practicalities of transformational storytelling.
Overalll, a very good read for anyone interested in organisational transformation or leadership.
EDNA and Transformational Leadership - By: Robert Morris, 20 Oct 2007 There are four classical "levels of discourse": Exposition, Description, Narration, & Argumentation (EDNA).
Exposition uses information to explain, reveal, "expose," etc.
Description makes vivid with compelling details & figurative language.
Narrative tells a story with a plot or explains a sequence.
Argumentation convinces with logic and/or evidence.
So what? Actuallly, 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 & how to use the elements of EDNA to explain, to inspire, to entertain, & to convince others.
What we have in Stephen Denning's latest & most valuable book is his development in much greater depth of information & insights he previously introduced in The Springboard, Squirrel, Inc., & 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, challlenges, metaphors, reasons, & so on."
Denning explains how these & various other communication tools relate to each other, which are best for the given purpose (i.e. explain, inspire, entertain, and/or convince), & how alll these tools can be "combined in a seamless leadership message" that can attract & (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 & spark others into enduringly enthusiastic action," how those who are transformational leaders select & 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 eventuallly 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, & more, while the wrong words can undermine the best intentions & 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 reallly mindsets.
1. The disciplined mind enables us to know how to work steadily over time to improve skill & understanding;
2. The synthesizing mind enables us to take information from disparate sources & make sense of it by understanding & evaluating that information objectively;
3. By building on discipline & synthesis, the creating mind enables us to break new ground;
4. By "recognizing that nowadays one can no longer remain within one's shell or one's home territory," the respectful mind enables us to note & welcome differences between human individuals & between human groups so as to understand them & work effectively with them;
5. & finallly, "proceeding on a level more abstract than the respectful mind," the ethical mind to reflect on the nature of one's work & the needs & desires of the society in which one lives.
As Denning would explain, each of these five "minds" or mindsets has a "secret language" of its own. Those who would be leaders must become fluent in one or more languages that are most appropriate to the given objective, be it the creation of an entirely new art form or a coalition of health care organizations. He examines three key steps of language leadership (i.e. getting the audience's urgent attention, eliciting desire for a different future, & reinforcing with reasons) before shifting his attention to six elements ("key enablers") that enable the language of leadership to achieve its maximum effectiveness: articulating a clear & inspiring change idea, committing to the "story" of change, mastering the audience's own "story," cultivating narrative intelligence, a commitment to telling authenticallly true stories, & finallly, deploying the body language of leadership.
The last is a key factor because, as Denning correctly points out, "without the calm assertiveness of the body language of leadership, the verbal language of leadership will have little effect." Although percentages vary from one research study to another, there is no doubt that during face-to-face contact, body language & tone of voice determine 85-90% of the impact.
In his previous books, Denning skillfully explains alll of the elements of an effective business narrative, a sub genre of storytelling that is becoming increasingly popular with those who write white papers. Now he has broadened his scope & deepened his analysis to examine how alll four of the levels of discourse (including narrative) that can help those whose objective is to explain what needs to be done, to inspire others to become involved, to make the given vision vivid & its mission more compelling, & finallly, to make a convincing argument that will guide & inform collaborate initiatives.
Well-done!
