University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
The Secret of Culture Change
Book

The Secret of Culture Change

How to Build Authentic Stories That Transform Your Organization

Jay B. Barney, Manoel Amorim and Carlos Júlio
Berrett-Koehler, 2023
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Without the right strategies, most organizations will fail. But even the best strategies cannot succeed if your company’s culture doesn’t support them. Authors Jay B. Barney, Manoel Amorim, and Carlos Júlio explain that culture change hinges on story-building. Leaders aiming for a strategic culture shift must craft and share compelling stories with their employees – stories rooted in the new norms and values they wish to establish. Employees will then develop and share their own culture-change tales. The authors teach you how to create and communicate these stories in ways that jump start change.

Summary

To change outmoded strategies, change your company’s culture.

Are your business strategies outdated? Would you like to change them, and do you know how? Begin by aligning them with your culture. Organizations whose strategies and cultures align outperform firms with misaligned strategies and cultures.

If your company culture is a mismatch with your business strategy, you can change your strategy, change your culture, or do nothing and watch your competitors succeed. Because strategies are, by their nature, action-oriented plans – let’s do this and let’s not do that – you can change them fairly easily. But allowing culture to dictate strategy is problematic. If, for instance, you abandon a strategy that your research indicates is best for product differentiation because it doesn’t align with your company culture, you are risking your bottom line. Changing your culture – which is far less concrete than your strategy – is more difficult but, ultimately, it’s a far better approach. 

Leaders must create and share culture-change stories.

The stories that lead to cultural transformation talk about a company...

About the Authors

Jay B. Barney is a professor in strategic management at the University of Utah. Manoel Amorim is a co-founder and partner in K2A Partners in Brazil. Leadership expert Carlos Júlio is a visiting professor at four MBA Schools in Brazil. 

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