"This brilliant book has some of the greatest tales of the past two centuries."--Press Association

Through the stories they tell, the most successful leaders educate, persuade, and bring about change, but we rarely have the background knowledge to explore how they do so. In this hugely insightful guide to getting to the top, leading journalist Gavin Esler presents firsthand knowledge of the secrets of those who achieve power based on over thirty years' experience interviewing world famous figures from Bill Clinton to Angelina Jolie.

Introducing the questions every leader must answer--and the elements that the best stories must contain--Esler explains how creating a leadership story can promote success at all levels, whether its running for the US presidency or applying for a place at college.

While many essentials of storytelling have stood the test of time, he examines the opportunities and pressures created by twenty-first century phenomena such as twenty-four hour news, and what they tell us about how to reach the top--and how to judge those already there. Spanning fields from business and culture to the military and even taking in lessons from terrorism, Lessons from the Top offers a fascinating portrait of leadership in the modern world--and shows how the methods of the most powerful leaders could work for you.

Gavin Esler is an award-winning television and radio broadcaster, novelist, and journalist. He currently presents Newsnight on BBC2 and Dateline London which goes out weekly on BBC World.