Peter Guber - Tell to Win

Bought this book off Kobo as a continuation of my interest in public speaking and communications.

A few quick takeaways from the book. The more trivial ones first - Peter Guber seems to know everyone famous in the world. Perhaps that's a perk of working in his industry - film. He also seems to have great persuasive power and business acumen. I believe he will attribute the former to his power of story-telling.

The key premise of the book, as I interpret it, is that humans intuitively connect to stories. There is a deep desire in us to understand, satisfy our curiosity, share and retell stories, and it provides a strong channel through which we can convince other people of our ideas.

There are broad guidelines on what are good stories. They need to be logical, I feel, so that there is a strong momentum and understandable flow to its eventual conclusion. The powerful ones also tend to have themes on struggles and overcoming them. In addition, when trying to use a story to persuade someone, one also needs to understand what the underlying story of the recipient is - which would affect how well our stories resonate with them.

Seen this way, a story can be seen as a logical and emotionally powerful way to link up a set of facts and ideas. (Much like a submission, except that emotions are eschewed in submissions.)

Some applications that I'd try to explore: as themes for people's motivations (what is their life story and how does this drive them?), personal branding and career path (what is my story and how does it make sense to myself and others? how do i want to be able to tell it to other people?), and even the visions/ missions of organisations (what do these companies really mean?).

Overall, a good and inspiring read, although it was a little short on the details side.