Corporate Narrative: How Organizations Tell Their Own Story

Why Organizations Need a Narrative

A corporate narrative is not a PR tool and not a marketing trick. It is the way in which an organization understands itself, coordinates the actions of its members, and interacts with the outside world. Organizations without a narrative are disoriented: members do not understand where and why the organization is moving.

The narrative solves three tasks. Identity: who we are, where we came from, how we are different. Direction: where we are going and why it is important. Mobilization: why people should join us or stay.

Leadership is in many ways a narrative act. The research of Howard Gardner (“Leading Minds”, 1995): great leaders are, above all, great storytellers. Roosevelt, Churchill, Gandhi — created narratives that mobilized millions.

Strategic Narrative: How to Create One

A strategic narrative is a concept developed by Lawrence Freedman (“Strategy”, 2013): a narrative that explains why an organization or state does what it does, and why it is the right thing.

The structure of an effective strategic narrative: problem (what is wrong with the world?), solution (why are we the right answer?), call to action (what should our stakeholders do?). This is not just a slogan — this is a coherent story that all organization members can reproduce and develop.

Apple: “We believe that those who think differently change the world” — a narrative that explains both the product, and the culture, and the selection of employees. Amazon: “Day One” — the narrative of an endless beginning, suppressing bureaucratic inertia. Patagonia: “We’re in business to save our home planet” — a narrative that defines the product, marketing, and operations.

Narrative Crisis and Its Management

When an organization experiences a crisis — it is a narrative crisis: the dominant narrative about it collapses. Johnson & Johnson (Tylenol, 1982), Challenger (1986), Volkswagen (Dieselgate, 2015) — crises that required narrative management.

Effective crisis management is narrative management: acknowledgement of the problem (not silencing it), explanation of what happened, and creating a new narrative about how the organization has changed. Volkswagen failed at the acknowledgment stage; Johnson & Johnson coped, because the narrative “consumer safety above all” preceded the crisis and was sincere.

Question for reflection: How would you describe your organization’s narrative? Does it have all three components (problem, solution, call to action)? Do all employees understand it the same way?