“The Secret of Culture Change, tackles one of the most difficult challenges business leaders face, transforming their organization’s culture to support strategies that work. This insightful book walks the reader through the successful attributes of how more than 50 leaders built stories to change their organizational cultures. A must read for CEOs, managers, and academics interested in leadership!”
“Building a culture that is consistent with timeless principles, at every level and across every department, is central to long-term success. Jay, Manoel, and Carlos compiled incredible examples of ways to build and scale this kind of culture, applicable to business leaders in any industry and at every stage of maturity.”
“After 30 years of writing, speaking, and leading, the most important thing I’ve learned is that people don’t remember anything you said. All they remember is the stories you build. The Secret of Culture Change shows you how this is done. This is a must-read book for any leader or manager seeking to transform their culture and organization from the inside-out.”
“The Secret of Culture Change is the perfect blueprint for using authentic story building to align your organizational culture with your business strategy. This is a book that every business leader should read.”
“Brilliant! Change is the new normal. But culture change is notoriously messy and difficult. This book identifies the ingredients you need to build powerful stories that will create culture change in your organization.”
“The Secret of Culture Change is a powerful demonstration that building the 'right' story can dramatically alter organizations and the people who work in them. A 'must read' for thoughtful managers wanting to make a real difference.”
“As the need to formulate bold and disruptive strategy has become more pressing, so has the need to change company culture. But how to do it? The authors argue that culture change must begin by building new stories that compellingly exemplify the culture that needs to be created. This is an inspiring and actionable major step forward in bringing about real cultural change!”
“Management guru Peter Drucker once said ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast.’ The Secret of Culture Change is like a new chef that switches this metaphorical meal. This book generates eminently practical, yet academically sound, leadership guidance on how to change culture to match your strategy. Bravo!"
“A fresh take on change management and the importance of narratives in changing organizational culture. Leaders not only create and impose strategies, they also shape norms, values, and identity. They do this by building stories. A fun and inspiring read from an all-star academic and professional team that explains how great organizational stories are built.”
“Through numerous first person accounts from actual organizational change agents, Barney, Amorim, and Julio make a valuable contribution to the organizational change literature. The ‘read’ is delightful, inspiring, and thought provoking. The thesis is both deceptively simple and devilishly complex. Well worthy of any time the reader chooses to invest in its pages.”
“With their innovative focus on story building, Barney, Amorim and Júlio have put together an effective and engaging manual for anyone leading through change. This book isn’t just a helpful guide, it’s also an entertaining read.”
“Simplicity, when crafted by the brilliant, can be profound, powerful, and practical. The Secret of Culture Change is such. Destined to be a ‘storied’ tome on organizational culture; a must read for leaders who wish to mobilize their people’s spirits beyond strategy's 'need to do' to culture’s 'want to do'.”
“Culture is the outcome of explicit or implicit values, expressed in behaviors and actions, that are accepted over time. Jay, Manoel, and Carlos have curated relevant corporate culture cases and masterfully knitted this into a reflective work that aims to nudge leaders toward crafting a brighter future for their organization.”
“Managers will always try to leverage their balance sheet, change their profit/loss statements, or restructure their organization to improve performance. These are short-term tactical chapters in every manager’s playbook. Changing culture is much deeper and more fundamental. Show me a leader who can change the culture of an organization, and I will show you an organization on a journey of growth in any market or condition!”
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About The Book
Firms where strategy and culture are aligned outperform firms where that alignment is not in place. However, most efforts to change a company’s culture fail. What can business leaders do to change their cultures and align them with their strategies successfully? Based on interviews with over 60 business leaders, we identified the key to successful culture change: Engaging in actions that build new stories consistent with a new culture. These stories replace stories that support an old and inadequate culture and help shape a new culture. Based on the analysis of over 160 such stories, we identified six attributes of successful culture changing stories:
- The actions that build these stories are authentic.
- These stories “star” the leader.
- They signal a clean break with the past, and a clear path to the future.
- They appeal to employee heads and hearts.
- They’re often theatrical.
- They build a ‘story cascade’ as employees feel empowered to build their own culture-changing stories.
We describe these attributes using inspiring examples of real culture-changing stories built by business leaders in a variety of companies and industries around the world. You can learn from the experiences of those leaders to harness the power of the stories you build to align your culture with your strategy.
Sign up to get a free copy of 5 Mistakes That Will Doom Your Culture Change Efforts and learn what not to do when your strategy and culture are misaligned.
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