Story-Teller
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- Joined
- Feb 22, 2009
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- 2,406
CORPORATE LORE
“I desire no future that will break the ties of the past.”
—George Eliot
In his book Business as Unusual, Hugh De Pree describes the struggle that Herman Miller, Inc. faced in expanding from a small family business in the 1940s into a major corporation today. The office furniture manufacturer is a corporation based on Christian religious values and traditions. When the company’s rapid growth began to place a strain on those original values, Peter Drucker was asked to suggest methods to keep the enterprise on track. What he recommended was that new employees be educated about the founders and their early struggles and also about how the company’s philosophy came into being.
When an enterprise is small and young, its employees know its history because they were a part of it. They know the founder and often relate to him on a first-name basis. As the operation grows, however, the impact of the company’s beliefs and mission may be lost on the average employee. Those companies which are able to maintain their corporate lore often do so in the manner of such strong “evangelists” as Alfred Sloan, Henry Ford, Thomas Watson, John Deere, Walt Disney, Trammel Crow, and Bill and Dave Packard. While the leaders of a large organization cannot know every employee, it is important that the leaders’ stories and experiences—in the form of corporate lore—be told frequently to workers to remind them of the company’s beliefs and goals.
CONSIDER THIS: Give people some tangible story, perhaps a parable, on which to hang their corporate beliefs. One truly inspirational story that describes the company’s goals is worth a thousand company rules.
Submitted by Richard
“I desire no future that will break the ties of the past.”
—George Eliot
In his book Business as Unusual, Hugh De Pree describes the struggle that Herman Miller, Inc. faced in expanding from a small family business in the 1940s into a major corporation today. The office furniture manufacturer is a corporation based on Christian religious values and traditions. When the company’s rapid growth began to place a strain on those original values, Peter Drucker was asked to suggest methods to keep the enterprise on track. What he recommended was that new employees be educated about the founders and their early struggles and also about how the company’s philosophy came into being.
When an enterprise is small and young, its employees know its history because they were a part of it. They know the founder and often relate to him on a first-name basis. As the operation grows, however, the impact of the company’s beliefs and mission may be lost on the average employee. Those companies which are able to maintain their corporate lore often do so in the manner of such strong “evangelists” as Alfred Sloan, Henry Ford, Thomas Watson, John Deere, Walt Disney, Trammel Crow, and Bill and Dave Packard. While the leaders of a large organization cannot know every employee, it is important that the leaders’ stories and experiences—in the form of corporate lore—be told frequently to workers to remind them of the company’s beliefs and goals.
CONSIDER THIS: Give people some tangible story, perhaps a parable, on which to hang their corporate beliefs. One truly inspirational story that describes the company’s goals is worth a thousand company rules.
Submitted by Richard
