The Secret of Culture Change

Book excerpt: Find out how bold actions by visionary leaders can inspire powerful stories that drive culture change. Data indicates that most strategic efforts to change a company's culture fail. So how do companies succeed in this endeavor? A top strategy professor and two highly successful CEOs found that, in companies that had successfully changed their culture, leaders had taken dramatic actions that embodied the new cultural values. These actions inspired stories that became company legends, repeated in every department and handed on to new employees. Through compiling and analyzing 150 stories from business leaders who have achieved change, they identified 6 attributes that every successful culture change story has in common: 1. The actions are authentic 2. They revolve around the CEO 3. They signal a clean break with the past, and a clear path to the future 4. They appeal to employee heads and hearts 5. They're often theatrical or dramatic 6. They're told, and re-told, throughout the organization With extensive and inspiring examples of stories containing these attributes, the authors illustrate how readers can harness the power of stories within their company in order to change or create a winning culture to align with any strategy.