Tell to Win

Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story

By: Peter Guber

Narrated by: Patrick Egan

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Today everyone - whether they know it or not - is in the emotional transportation business. More and more, success is won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move partners, shareholders, customers, and employees to action. Simply put, if you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it. And this book tells you how to do both.

Historically, stories have always been igniters of action, moving people to do things. But only recently has it become clear that purposeful stories - those created with a specific mission in mind - are absolutely essential in persuading others to support a vision, dream, or cause.

Peter Guber, whose executive and entrepreneurial accomplishments have made him a success in multiple industries, has long relied on purposeful story telling to motivate, win over, shape, engage, and sell. Indeed, what began as knack for telling stories as an entertainment industry executive has, through years of perspiration and inspiration, evolved into a set of principles that anyone can use to achieve their goals.

In Tell to Win, Guber shows how to move beyond soulless Power Point slides, facts, and figures to create purposeful stories that can serve as powerful calls to action.

Among his techniques:

• Capture your audience’s attention first, fast, and foremost
• Motivate your listeners by demonstrating authenticity
• Build your tell around “what’s in it for them”
• Change passive listeners into active participants
• Use “state-of-the-heart” technology online and offline to make sure audience commitment remains strong

To validate the power of telling purposeful stories, Guber includes in this book a remarkably diverse number of “voices” - master tellers with whom he’s shared experiences. They include YouTube founder Chad Hurley, NBA champion Pat Riley, clothing designer Normal Kamali, “Mission to Mars” scientist Gentry Lee, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, former South African president Nelson Mandela, magician David Copperfield, film director Steven Spielberg, novelist Nora Roberts, rock legend Gene Simmons, and physician and author Deepak Chopra.

After listening to this extraordinary mix of voices, you’ll know how to craft, deliver - and own - a story that is truly compelling, one capable of turning others into viral advocates for your goal.

©2011 Peter Gruber (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

“In Tell to Win, Peter Guber demonstrates that telling purposeful stories is the best way to persuade, motivate and convince who you want to do what you need.” (Bill Clinton)

“ Tell to Win gives great insight into why good storytelling skills are essential for a successful leader. It’s both an engaging read and a great practical guide on how to listen, prepare and marshal facts to tell the right kind of story to the right audience.” (Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company)

“Peter Guber has a deep understanding of the lure of story and its capacity to transform…Inhale this book so that you may breathe energy and purpose into the lives of others." (Muhammad Yunus, Winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, author of Banker to the Poor)

I know this is a book about telling stories...

I realize this is a book about storytelling to make a point, but too much time was spent name dropping. I did find the stories interesting, but I would have preferred more time spent on the nuts and bolts

loved it! Essential for business & in life!

This book was referred to me and I'm so happy that it was I really enjoyed it. It's so timeliness and relevant for anyone no matter what you do!

wow

powerful tool. cant wait to apply these strategies! recommended to everyone who wants to win

A winner!

I am so very pleased that Peter shared his wisdom, experience and personal stories with us. A bit "wordy" for me, but well worth it. An area of weakness in my business life is now becoming a strength.

The story sticks . It is a must read.

Peter Turo
Guber is a brilliant story teller. I finally understood my own success in business. I only wish I had read this book 20 years earlier.

Must read book/audiobook by everybody

Excellent audiobook which is in fact partially a summary of life time achievements by Peter Guber (some of it is really modern history). It is not self centered or narcissist as one other reviewer noted. However he presents his personal philosophy and state of mind, this is inevitable for such a high achiever, and it is more than welcome for myself. The book goes in great depth, dealing with all aspects of storytelling. One may say that it is kind of biased since it presents successful stories told by geniuses, which gives it a higher chance of succeeding anyway. This is not he case. You get a better chance of success if you tell and improve your storytelling skills in any case. If you have children it is easier to understand. One aspect that would like more information on was partially covered in the last chapter about new technologies and storytelling. Since in many cases you don't even have the chance to face the person (eg. Proposal evaluators) I was wondering how written text in strict proposal templates would work with storytelling. Something to experiment with!

Inspiring, well written, professionally narrated

Upon my second listening of this book, I thought that perhaps the previous reviewer's comments were influenced more by the absence of Peter's ubiquitous voice rather than any actual narration issue. But to each his own.

For my experience, the author/narration combo worked quite well and kept me wanting more. The content is excellent, the stories intriguing and it offers your mindscape new possibilities with heart.

I hope that your adventure will be just as rewarding.

Brilliant book on Influence

Written in such a way that I learned how to transfer everyday situations to compelling stories with rich lessons.

Walk the Talk

Each concept introduced by the author is explained and illustrated with real life examples. The book is inspiring and practical.

Incredable material! Great 3hr book, 10hr Listen#%

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

If you are responsible for communication any an kind; you must read this book! The lessons discussed in this tome are incredible, they must be studied, notated, memorized, and put into action in your daily life. Those that take the lessons to heart will substantially increase their success.

What could Peter Guber have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Peter Guber, aka "Pete the name dropper Gubber" was best when the story used to relay a point was third party. Pete,… REALLY?? You run around with Millionaires, Billionaires, and the so-called political elite... So does the bell hop at the Four Seasons!

The whole book reeked of narcissism!

If you ever do a rewrite, lift up someone else and you’ll be lifted with them!

What about Patrick Egan’s performance did you like?

The Narration was very good!