Subtitled 'Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story', (yes, he's American!), this book does actually give a convincing account of why stories are so powerful - because, Guber says, we're 'wired for storytelling'. However, these are not just any stories; they need to have certain qualities that make them purposeful.

Based on the author's own experience of how purposeful stories can create opportunity and change, he offers real examples and principles that are equally applicable in life as in business.

'Emotional transportation'

The key to why such stories are able innately to influence and affect people lies in their power to move people to action that goes beyond the purely rational. And, says Guber, this applies equally to partners, employees, customers and shareholders. He calls this the power of 'emotional transportation'.

A scientific explanation - 'mirror neurons'

One of Guber's research partners, Professor Marco Iacoboni of UCLA, provides an interesting insight into the power of telling a purposeful story. 'Mirror neurons' allow us to read each other, both functionally and emotionally, as if both the teller and listener are entering and living each other's experience.

They make it possible for the teller and listener to imitate, learn, and intuit each other's goals through feelings of empathy and connection. Iacobani explains that when one tells a purposeful story in the room, face to face, they evoke the mirror neuron system of their listener to feel what they are feeling in their telling and thus mirror the same intentions.

So what are the essential elements of a purposeful story?

Purposeful stories have a goal, a call to action that storytellers want their listeners to undertake. In order for this to happen, there are certain key conditions:

1. Be clear what you want and ensure that your intention is aligned with the story
2. Crucially, as a storyteller you must yourself be genuinely motivated by the story - which means being authentic and congruent in the telling.
3. The story must not only be interesting, but also demonstrate that you are interested in your audience. Purposeful stories must engage listeners in an interactive process. It must be a dialogue not a monologue.
4. Embed the important facts and information inside the story, while creating an emotionally resonant experience. Guber claims that the real impact happens in the heart and gut, then migrates to the mind. So a call to action that has emotional strength supported by cognitive information is far more powerful than one aimed just at the rational mind.
5. As a purposeful storyteller, you must be willing to surrender control of the story, creating a gap that listeners willingly cross in order to participate in and take ownership of the story.

"Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart larger."