Hire Smart from the Start

CHAPTER 1

Why tell stories?

“Every great leader is a great storyteller.”¹

—HOWARD GARDNER, Harvard psychologist

I’VE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY to deliver a presentation to Procter & Gamble’s then-CEO A. G. Lafley four or five times in the decade he held that position. The first time was unforgettable. That day I learned a valuable lesson—the hard way—about how not to present to the CEO.

I’d been given 20 minutes on the agenda of the Executive Global Leadership Council meeting. This group included the CEO and a dozen or so of the top officials in the company. They met weekly in a special room on P&G’s executive floor designed just for this group. It’s a perfectly round room with modern features, centered on a perfectly round table. Even the doors are ...