The Harvard Business Review cover story, Nov / Dec 2023 issue… hot off the press!
brandstory encourages the reader to track down this HBR article (“Storytelling That Drives Bold Change”)… an insightful (of course!) article reaffirming – as brandstory has been demonstrating for more than twenty years now – the importance of “storytelling” (or what we prefer referring to as story-sharing!) when it comes to affecting and motivating desired “organizational culture” change.
An article infused with a number of pertinent concepts, including the call to “acknowledge the good parts of your history,” while also citing the necessity to “reckonwith the not-so-good parts,” as well. And brandstory could not agree more.
More importantly, the article actually espouses four key steps to deliver on the premise of its title: First, “understand your story so well that you can describe it in simple terms”; second, “honor the past”; third, “articulate a mandate for change”; and fourth, “lay out a rigorous and optimistic path forward.” Again, brandstory could not agree more!
However, it is not enough to simply reaffirm how significant one’s own Strategic Brand Story™ can be for its business (you can visit our www.brandstory.consulting web site to learn the full story!)… what is even more important is how a Company, or any “organization-as-brand,” should go about in the development of its own original, authentic, credible, memorable, motivating and, above all, shareable story! Because effective stories do not just grow on trees!
And this is the “how” that brandstory has been demonstrating, perfecting and delivering for more than twenty years now (sorry – we already said that!)… but not only for “change-related” issues! Because so many successful organizations-as-brand will benefit from a “cultural reinforcement,” as well, where no “change” per se is required. And this, too, is what a well-crafted Strategic Brand Story™ has been conceived to deliver!