Tip 682: Stories and Culture

From the Leadership: Stories, Heroes, and Cultures

Personnel turnover hurts organizations in many ways.

One of the most hurtful is the loss of institutional memory and the loss of stories. 

Stories and heroes build a culture. They build pride and belonging. They present ideals to live and work and strive for. 

For example—

IBM and Chairman and CEO Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Watson refused the resignation of a young executive—after a horribly expensive mistake—with “I just spent $600,000 training you.”

The story is told and retold. In fact, we’re telling it here.    

Gymnastics and Simone Biles. Biles’ mother was unable to care for her. She moved in and out of childcare for most of her young life. When she was six years old, on a day-care field trip, she saw a gymnastics exhibition and wanted to “do what they’re doing.” 

She’s earned thirty-two Olympic and World Championship medals and is tied for the most decorated gymnast of all time. 
Her story inspires others, but the story must be captured and retold.

Service and Anthony Acevedo. A young Mexican American drafted into World War II and a survivor of one of the worst of the Nazi POW camps, he spent his last years volunteering at Veteran’s hospitals to help patients with PTSD (partly to help himself cope). 

When he passed away, his body was draped with an America flag and prepared for a traditional honor walk, a way to treat a veteran’s death with dignity. Word spread throughout the hospital that the beloved Acevedo—whose warmth and love cheered up veterans, doctors, and nurses alike—was gone. 

The hospital hallways overflowed with people standing at attention as Acevedo was accompanied by his four children. 

“They saluted my dad all the way up and down the hallway as we were walking. Four floors like that,” his son said. “Nurses, doctors, patients who were able to stand—everyone was standing at attention saluting my dad.”

When we retell the story, we remember—and want to emulate—the service.

Find the stories in your culture. Tell those stories to build your culture.

We love these stories.

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We’re indebted to many sources for these stories.