Contents -- List of Figures -- Foreword -- Introduction: the inspiration gap -- Part I Leadershipin the age oftransparency -- 01 The new leader -- Conversations drive change -- Talk is work -- Speed is the new currency of business and leadership -- A new kind of leadership is key to prosperity -- True communication emerges from your being -- Create space for meaningful conversations -- Personal connection to organizational goals is critical -- Trust by employees for leaders is rising -- Line managers need help to improve trust -- Earning a trust dividend -- 02 Leadership: the greatest intangible asset of them all -- Positive emotions drive better performance -- Intangible assets demand extraordinary communication skills -- Competitive advantage through quality relationships -- The first challenge is to understand intangible value -- Transparency has changed the nature of leadership -- Learn to embrace transparency -- Leadership is about trust -- The biggest risk is the destruction of relationships -- 03 The 12 principles of inspiring leadership communication -- The purpose of leadership -- Part II The leader within -- 04 Be yourself better: why passion and conviction are essential to inspiring leaders -- 1. Define your purpose -- 2. Define your values -- 3. Understand your strengths -- 4. Understand your weaknesses -- 5. Learn from your seminal moments -- 6 & 7. Map your purpose and your values to those of your organization -- 8. Show humanity -- 9. Be visible -- 10. Speak the truth, respectfully -- 05 The vision thing: how to think about purpose, values and the future -- It's the vision thing that drives you on -- Unreasonable belief drives unbelievable success -- Rational or emotional? -- Purpose and performance -- Alignment is the key to success -- Really good people need a really good understanding -- The seven steps to a vision framework.

Bringing emotion into the mix -- 06 Bringing the outside in: when you introduce employees to the people they serve, it unleashes super-performance -- Introduce employees to the people they serve -- Use external perspectives to shape internal ones -- When the brand promise is seen as corporate jargon -- Pass the baton well to win -- Video customers on a mobile phone -- Think about when you survey customers -- Tune in to your customers online -- Beware of false data -- Why you should love bad news -- 07 Engage through powerful conversations: How to use conversations to drive culture, and why culture delivers goals -- The power of alignment and engagement -- What are the drivers of engagement? -- Conversations drive change - fact -- Is it really just about the pay? -- Why culture is a secret weapon -- Making the impossible possible -- Choice over change, any day of the week -- The engagement ladder -- The three parts to powerful conversations -- What is the ultimate measure of successful conversations? -- Part III Connecting to the emotions that drive behaviours -- 08 It's all about them: how to become more effective by being more focused on people and behaviours -- How to be audience-centric -- The importance of tackling the right problem -- 09 The listening leader: Why you need to listen louder -- Not listening actually turns people off -- The benefits of listening -- How good are you as a listener? -- A seminal moment to do with my own listening -- Give people a damn good listening to -- The seven essential techniques of great listeners -- Listen up, down and all around -- How people react to poor listening -- 10 Sending signals: How you inspire - or demotivate - without saying a word -- It is in your behaviours and what you focus on -- It is in your consistency -- It is in whether you live the values yourself -- It is in your responses.

It is in your body language -- It is in your expectations -- It is in your attitude -- It is in your appearance -- Send signals to yourself -- Never forget to recognize, encourage and thank -- Conduct signal audits -- 11 Purposeful, persuasive stories: How you can use stories to drive action and shape culture -- Head, heart and soul listening -- In their heads, the listeners are arguing -- Leadership is persuasion -- Stories, metaphor and props: the ideal mix -- Purposeful stories -- What is a purposeful story? -- A story to illustrate how stories work -- Time for a new story -- The structure of a good story -- Flavour the dish to appeal to the senses -- Where to look for stories -- The transformational story -- How to tell them well -- When to refrain -- Narrative or story? -- How storytelling changed a CEO's leadership -- Stories are the superglue of messages -- Part IV The leader outside -- 12 Use a potent point of view to power your leadership: How to develop a persuasive standpoint to win friends and influence people -- What is a point of view? -- Only one point of view? Or do you need many? -- The toxic effect of not having a point of view -- The four essential ingredients of a powerful point of view -- A point of view in action -- Deconstructing a company's point of view -- Turning a point of view into a sales pitch -- How a POV powered the purpose of a public sector organization -- How a point of view can power a Thought Leadership programme -- How a point of view can equip you for the hyper-critical media environment -- The persuasive power of an equal but opposite point of view -- Facts, emotions and symbols -- The three types of argument, and why you should stay in the one about the future -- In summary -- 13 Winning in the court of public opinion: why you must always prepare properly for public platforms -- Know what you want to achieve.

Own your material -- Rehearse well and prepare for tough questions -- Why your voice and image can be more important than words -- The importance of remembering your theme -- Twelve ways to make your material more compelling -- Pictures, please, if you must use PowerPoint -- 14 When words really matter -- The power of who, what, where, why, when and how -- Why using these words in your headlines will improve readership -- Use words that deliver social proof -- Take care to find exactly the right word -- 15 Why leaders should embrace social media: the six reasons you should be more engaged -- Why leaders won't use social media -- Why leaders do use social media -- The six reasons you should be more engaged -- Why you simply can't ignore it any more -- Part V Bringing it all together -- 16 What is your leadership inspiration quotient? How to make the intangible more tangible -- How do workers rate their bosses? -- Chapter 2: On relationships and trust... -- Chapter 4: On learning to be yourself better... -- Chapter 5: On purpose, vision and values... -- Chapter 6: On bringing the outside in... -- Chapter 7: On engaging through conversation... -- Chapter 8: On connecting with your audience... -- Chapter 9: On being a better listener... -- Chapter 10: On sending signals... -- Chapter 11: On telling stories... -- Chapter 12: On articulating a powerful point of view... -- Chapter 13: On preparing for public platforms... -- Chapter 14: On the power of words... -- Chapter 15: On social media... -- Chapter 16: On striving to get better... -- How these experienced leaders rated themselves -- With grateful thanks -- Meet the author -- Index.