
Why Storytelling Matters When Changing Company Culture
From HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review
March 4, 2026 · 31 min · Episode 151
About this episode
Jay Barney discusses the importance of storytelling in driving cultural change within organizations.
Jay Barney, a professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, studied leaders who successfully led culture change and found one thing in common: they created and spread authentic and memorable stories. The new stories then emanated throughout the workforce and rewrote the old narrative. Barney explains the six rules leaders need to follow to drive cultural change with storytelling.
People in this episode
Guest: Jay Barney
Topics covered
- storytelling
- company culture
- leadership
- cultural change
- organizational narrative
Keywords
- storytelling
- company culture
- leadership
- cultural change
- narrative
- authentic stories
- workforce
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business
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