Once upon a time…
What a great story can do for your company

By Kina Zeidler
Source: Universum Quarterly 2009, Issue 1

A great story sells – but a really good one can also be used to enforce corporate cultural values. Storytelling describes how companies and organisations use stories to communicate, internally and externally; yet, storytelling is mostly known as a method for companies to sell more iPhones or Nike shoes.

Now, add the prefix ‘corporate’ and you get ‘Corporate Storytelling’ (CS). It is an increasingly popular management and leadership approach, where a collection of stories, from the corporate corridors to the factory floors, are used internally in an organization to exemplify good leadership practices, demonstrate corporate values and to enhance internal organisational communication. All companies have real-life stories they can share within the company and between locations. CS can play a vital role in a recession, when knowing how and what to communicate has become ever so important.

Once upon a time, in 1995, a Mr. Pierre Omidyar was dining with his fiancée. During dinner, his beloved mentioned that she had problems finding collectors of the breath-freshener PEZ dispensers so she could boost her collection. This gave Omidyar the idea to build a Web site for her where she could trade them: auction giant EBay was born. The story quickly spread far and wide – and so did the myth of EBay, a company whose service we use and a company we’d like to work for. But why does this story stick? And why do we re-tell it to others? According to CS gurus and company representatives, the answer is simple: the story is real and memorable. But practically, in corporate life, how can you use stories to improve your internal employer brand?