Why Storytelling Matters When Changing Company Culture

Stories and storytelling are at the core of many aspects of the corporate world. Consider a great brand campaign or the ability to sell yourself in a job interview. It’s also an extremely important skill for managers who want to win support for new strategies and initiatives—or change their company’s culture.

Jay Barney, a professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, studied leaders who successfully led culture change and found one thing in common: they created and spread authentic and memorable stories. The new stories then emanated throughout the workforce and rewrote the old narrative. Barney explains the six rules leaders need to follow to drive cultural change with storytelling. He’s a coauthor, with Manoel Amorim and Carlos Júlio, of The Secret of Culture Change: How to Build Authentic Stories That Transform Your Organization and the 2023 HBR article “Create Stories That Change Your Company’s Culture.”

Key episode topics include: leadership and managing people, leading teams, change management, business communication, organizational culture, corporate strategy

● Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: If You Want Culture Change, Create New Stories
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