A successful cultural shift often begins with leaders acting in ways that break with the past
Barney highlights that changing culture is difficult because it’s not just about top-down mandates or HR documents, but about how employees talk about their company. A successful cultural shift often begins with leaders acting in ways that break with the past, creating stories that others will share, which then spread through the organization. Barney emphasizes that these stories need to be authentic and come from the leaders themselves, who must be actively involved in shaping them. One key example shared is Manoel Amorim’s approach at Telesp, where he broke away from a rigid, top-down structure to create a more customer-centric culture. By engaging with employees on the ground and acting in ways that visibly supported new values, he created a story that employees could share and internalize.
The process of storytelling is not about planning stories in advance, but about creating situations that produce them naturally. Stories must be authentic, and they need to reflect both the leader’s values and the company’s strategic needs. Barney also discusses how the shift to remote work has complicated the creation and sharing of such stories, given the challenges of virtual communication.
Why is this resource helpful?
The conversation concludes with the notion that effective organizational change requires both emotional and logical engagement, with leaders needing to present a strong business case for cultural transformation and ensuring that their actions align with the stories they want to create.
