Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over

By: Lori Silverman

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Do you wish you could more fully engage your employees? Or reduce turnover by 25% or more? Do you need to quickly align staff around your organization's long-term strategy? Or achieve double-digit growth? Then this groundbreaking audiobook is for you.

Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over includes real-life examples from over 70 respected organizations, small and large, representing a multitude of industries, using stories to drive results.

Leaders from organizations such as Microsoft, Land's End, Verizon, the U.S. Air Force, and World Vision demonstrate the strong positive influence stories can have.

No abstract theories or platitudes are conveyed here. Hear how Kevin Roberts, CEO worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, achieved sustained sales growth after several mergers and downsizings caused the organization to fall on hard times. Learn how Erik Shaw, president and CEO of the FivePoint Federal Credit Union, overcame resistance to an organizational name change, resulting in membership growth exceeding the national average.

With this practical guide, you'll learn how stories can be used to:

Get employees to take action

Accelerate knowledge acquisition and organizational change

Solidify individual and team working relationships

Provide exceptional customer service

Increase the visibility of your organization

Drawing on interviews with 171 public- and private-sector leaders, this audiobook goes beyond storytelling to reveal five keys to making stories work for you: how to find existing stories; dig into them to uncover hidden patterns and themes; select those stories that need to be reinforced; craft memorable stories; and embody stories to positively impact people's attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors. It also includes proven tools and techniques that will help you sharpen these skills.

©2007 Lori Silverman (P)2007 Gildan Media Corp.

Wake me up when the book is over!

The author does nothing to inspire people to tell stories.

I am a great lover of stories and use them in business. I was looking forward to something that gave me new insights. Instead I was bored to tears. After 10 minutes it has still not got past the foreward and it did not get much better.

Contrast this with the wonderful book 'Made to Stick' which covered stories in a brilliant and new way.

This is the first time I have been inclined to write a review despite some real duds! If you want to learn more about stories then get 'Made to Stick' - unless you want something to help with insomnia!

Disappointed

I found nothing in this book that couldn't be expressed on the book jacket. Story is an important way of communicating with people in business - got it. Storys are used successfully in business to communicate - right. You should use story - OK.
But what makes a good story? How does one go about designing the use of story for a particular situation? If the author eventually answered those questions, I didn't hear it - I could only hold out for the first half of the book. In addition, the reader didn't do anything to make this book easy to stay engaged.

Wake me up when this Audiobook is over

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

The book fails to do what it is supposed to teach the reader to do. It is written as a dry academic research paper. It's shocking, really.

What was most disappointing about Lori Silverman’s story?

It made me hate "story" and took something that should make information come to life but did the complete opposite.

Would you be willing to try another one of Kate Reading’s performances?

I don't blame Kate. The text was so dull and boring, I commend her ability to stay awake. It's the first time I didn't finish an audiobook but that wasn't because of the performance.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I liked the title. That's about it.

Any additional comments?

The premise is great. Now if the author applied it to the book, she might be on to something.