One night we had a meeting of the top 120 people in the company worldwide, and after dinner we arranged a little living room scene. I was sitting there in my slippers and bathrobe. We said we were going to share some great old stories about the company. We also asked that people in the audience tell some great new stories about instances where the company had provided for employees or customers in ways that would astound us. We spent a whole evening sharing these stories, and the impact was profound.
People respond to stories and history.
They want to know where the company comes from. They want to see the faces of the founding group and the people who led the company through the early days. They want to hear about the company at its best and figure out how they can be the people who carry the company forward. We use myths to create a context that helps people understand both where we ve been and why we re changing so rapidly. And the difference between the two is whether people have the right context.