Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story

Peter Guber
Profile Books
£12.99

PM Rating: 3/5

Former chairman of Sony Pictures and current CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group Peter Guber argues that the key to success is the ability to craft, deliver and own a story that is capable of turning others into passionate advocates for your goals. Guber relates what he’s seen and learned in Hollywood, and how his celebrated friends – including Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Frank Sinatra – impressed upon him the power of a well-crafted story or appeal.

Namedropping is frequent: he mentions the times when Michael Jackson taught him about drama by making him watch a python slowly stalk a helpless mouse; and when Kiss frontman Gene Simmons, son of Holocaust survivors, used his story to fuel his business strategy. The book contains useful insights, although some of the stories are more like anecdotes. The role of values – and exploring the link between them and what makes a story inspirational – could have been given more emphasis. While the book did mention Hitler, there was no real discussion of lessons learned from that experience. Also, the quotation used in Chapter 8, “Treasure your relationships, not your possessions”, is much more revolutionary than the rest of the book.