Paul Smith
Author, Lead with a Story
A former Accenture consultant and consumer research executive at Procter & Gamble, Paul spent two decades observing and researching what it takes to connect with, inspire, and motivate a change in human behavior — in other words, leadership. He is a keynote speaker and trainer in leadership and storytelling techniques whose clients include international giants like Hewlett Packard, Ford Motor Company, Walmart, Merrill Lynch, Kaiser Permanente, Luxottica, and Procter & Gamble. He is also the author of a bestselling book about storytelling as a leadership tool titled Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire, now in it’s 5th printing in the U.S. and published in 6 languages around the world. Paul’s research on leadership and storytelling includes exclusive interviews with over 75 CEOs and executives at dozens of major corporations around the world. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal.
A former Accenture consultant and consumer research executive at Procter & Gamble, Paul spent two decades observing and researching what it takes to connect with, inspire, and motivate a change in human behavior — in other words, leadership. He is a keynote speaker and trainer in leadership and storytelling techniques whose clients include international giants like Hewlett Packard, Ford Motor Company, Walmart, Merrill Lynch, Kaiser Permanente, Luxottica, and Procter & Gamble.
He is also the author of a bestselling book about storytelling as a leadership tool titled Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire, now in it’s 5th printing in the U.S. and published in 6 languages around the world.
For Paul’s brand new book, Sell with a Story: How to Capture Attention, Build Trust, and Close the Sale, he interviewed professional buyers and sales people at 50+ organizations, including Hewlett Packard, Costco, Abercrombie & Fitch, Microsoft, Kroger, Huntington Bank, Xerox, etc.
The goal was to create a manual for helping sales people know which stories they needed to tell, and how to tell them better. Part of his conclusion was a set of 24 stories all sales people need to tell.
Paul’s research on leadership and storytelling includes exclusive interviews with over 75 CEOs and executives at dozens of major corporations around the world. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, The Washington Post, CIO Magazine, Success Magazine, Marketing Research Magazine, PR News, and London’s Edge Magazine. He holds a bachelors degree in economics, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Paul lives with his wife and two sons in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio.
He is also the author of a bestselling book about storytelling as a leadership tool titled Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire, now in it’s 5th printing in the U.S. and published in 6 languages around the world.
For Paul’s brand new book, Sell with a Story: How to Capture Attention, Build Trust, and Close the Sale, he interviewed professional buyers and sales people at 50+ organizations, including Hewlett Packard, Costco, Abercrombie & Fitch, Microsoft, Kroger, Huntington Bank, Xerox, etc.
The goal was to create a manual for helping sales people know which stories they needed to tell, and how to tell them better. Part of his conclusion was a set of 24 stories all sales people need to tell.
Paul’s research on leadership and storytelling includes exclusive interviews with over 75 CEOs and executives at dozens of major corporations around the world. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, The Washington Post, CIO Magazine, Success Magazine, Marketing Research Magazine, PR News, and London’s Edge Magazine. He holds a bachelors degree in economics, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Paul lives with his wife and two sons in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio.
Topics:
- Executive Leadership
Drawing on his exclusive one-on-one interviews with hundreds of CEOs and executives in over 20 countries, Paul Smith, bestselling author of Lead with a Story, shares leadership insights from CEOs at Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Dun & Bradstreet, Kellogg’s, Alltel Wireless, Saatchi & Saatchi-X, and others. These executive lessons span leadership topics such as setting a vision, holding P&L leaders accountable for results, leading change, defining corporate values, encouraging creativity, inspiring the organization, and influencing new management on the way out. You’ll also learn why you should be using more storytelling in your work, when you should be telling stories (and when not), as well as actionable tools you can start using immediately to improve the effectiveness of your leadership stories. - Storytelling Keynote
Storytelling has emerged as one of the most sought-after skills in the business world. Whether you’re trying to set a vision, lead change, sell a product, define the culture, encourage creativity, or just inspire the organization, storytelling can help you do it better. Paul Smith, best-selling author of the books Lead with a Story and Parenting with a Story and the upcoming book Sell with a Story, will share what he’s learned from his extensive research in storytelling, including in-depth one-on-one interviews with over 250 executives and leaders in 20 countries around the world. You’ll learn why you should be using more storytelling in your work, when you should be telling stories (and when not), as well as actionable tools you can start using immediately to improve the effectiveness of your storytelling. - Storytelling Workshop
In this interactive, hands-on workshop participants learn how to craft compelling business stories that resonate with their audience to drive people to action. Based on Paul Smith’s best-selling book, Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives that Captivate, Convince, and Inspire, topics include the structure of a business story (context, conflict, resolution, hero, villain, plot, etc.) plus the appropriate use of emotion, surprise, dialogue, and how to find exactly the right story for any situation. Bring a story to class. You’ll need it. Throughout the course, participants are challenged with exercises and follow a one-page story assessment scorecard and roadmap to more effective stories. Plus you’ll be highly engaged with inspiring stories from dozens of leaders and executives at successful companies around the world.
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