If You Want Culture Change, Create New Stories

Many leaders realize they need to change their organization’s culture to save the business. But employees usually resist change and stick to past norms. Jay Barney, professor at the University of Utah’s Eccles School of Business, studied leaders who successfully led culture change and found one thing in common: they created and spread stories. He says it's not about making up stories but taking action — in authentic, yet theatrical and memorable ways. The new stories then emanate throughout the workforce and rewrite the old narrative. Barney explains the six rules of this practice that leaders need to follow. 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 HBR article “Create Stories That Change Your Company’s Culture.”

Share Podcast

[HBR IdeaCast podcast series]

HBR IdeaCast
Episode 930

If You Want Culture Change, Create New Stories

Listen | Podcast loading...

###

A conversation with Eccles professor Jay Barney on research about retooling culture.

• Subscribe:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

All episodes

Details

Transcript

September 05, 2023

Many leaders realize they need to change their organization’s culture to save the business. But employees usually resist change and stick to past norms. Jay Barney, professor at the University of Utah’s Eccles School of Business, studied leaders who successfully led culture change and found one thing in common: they created and spread stories. He says it’s not about making up stories but taking action — in authentic, yet theatrical and memorable ways. The new stories then emanate throughout the workforce and rewrite the old narrative. Barney explains the six rules of this practice that leaders need to follow. 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 HBR article “Create Stories That Change Your Company’s Culture.”

• Subscribe On:

Apple

Spotify

RSS

Latest in this series

All episodes

This article is about ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

** Follow this topic

** Following

Related Topics:

• Change management

• Organizational culture

• Leadership and managing people

• Internal communication

• Leadership styles

• Personal strategy and style

Original source