Telling the corporate story: vision into action

Abstract

Purpose

The “Corporate Story” was written to provide organizations with a starting block for developing their company's strategic message. This paper aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an ideological framework for developing your corporate story, and provides recommendations for ensuring that it rings true. It uses organizational action as proof that a company is living its story, rather than just saying it is so.

Findings

The concept of using leadership to develop organizational messaging draws on research of human memory capabilities to identify structures for messaging that are both meaningful and memorable. The “Corporate Story” identifies means for ensuring that your strategy resonates with targeted groups.

Practical implications

The “Corporate Story” proposes the concept of employees acting as characters in a plot, and seeks to align leadership around consistent messaging.

Originality/value

The story is ultimately intended to engage employees in the company vision and result in a more productive workforce. The concept of a “corporate story” is new in as much as this paper seeks to define the values that a company's story reflects, and develops a framework for how to bring your story to life within a company. Creating employee “buy‐in” in an organization is no easy task, this paper discusses how not to detract from the meaning of your story by living the ideals which it presents.

Citation

Marzec, M. (2007), "Telling the corporate story: vision into action", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 26-36. https://doi.org/10.1108/02756660710723189