Presentation

The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Leaders, Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t

by Carmine Gallo
(c) 2016.

Having spent five years in medical school, I tend to see the world through data – through facts and figures and not stories. My reading this book proves that I am still interested in the power of stories. Gallo uncorks the power of a narrative through a bunch of stories (some religious, some business-oriented, some humanitarian, all moving).

Each chapter provides a report of one person’s life experiences. Skillfully, Gallo starts the report with the person’s first name – a move that provides a degree of anonymity for a well-known figure – and the naked tale with an eye towards a lesson. Then an analysis follows with a more philosophical and rhetorical parsing of the event. Finally, the lesson is summed up in one paragraph – a “secret” of the storyteller. Repeat this about 37 times, and you have a 250-page book that provides easy, interesting reading and the honing of a skill.

Almost every human will know some of the people biographied in this book. Almost no one will know them all. Stories from figures such as Steve Jobs, Al Gore, Pope Francis, and Sheryl Sandberg are combined with those from lesser-known figures such as Steve Wynn, Chris Hadfield, Kat Cole, and Amy Purdy to provide a nicely interlaced metanarrative. This metanarrative dishes up the thesis that behind every great or moving happening is a great story – and thus, a great storyteller. That point is quite well proven in this book. The everyday is mixed up with the mighty, with recurring spectacular results.

I aspire to tell stories more effectively. Although I doubt I will ever reach Churchill’s level of impact or excitement, I can work on my family, friends, and co-workers more effectively. This book equips me to do that better, and I am fortunate to have read it. I often focus on the philosophical side of life, but this book brings out the (often lost) art of rhetoric. Ideas without communication are indeed worthless.