Every organization has a story. While IBM harps on the world becoming instrumented, interconnected and intelligent, Infosys highlights how it is well positioned to help customers in an increasingly flat world. Some narrate a complex one, others make it simple. Gone are the days when organizations thrived on intellectualizing everything. Presentations, documents, software codes, designs etc have been known to be intellectualized to a level where it was certain that the audience will be baffled or the creators bamboozled. Times are fast changing and today the strategy of ‘diffusing complexity’ doesn’t work. Obviously, as competition increased and when the need to grow business became a top priority – simplifying also topped the strategy list.
Why are organizations relying on stories? Social psychologist and Marketer, Jennifer Aaker has the answer. “Stories serve as glue to unify communities. Stories spread from employee to employee, from consumer to consumer, and, in some cases, from employee to consumer or consumer to employee. Stories are much more memorable than statistics or simple anecdotes and are a mechanism that allows communities to grow. Strong stories can be told and retold. They become infectious.” Remember the story about how Microsoft was founded? Apple’s turnaround? Infosys? Well, every brand has a story – some puts you to sleep while others invigorate you from ‘corporate hibernation.’ Stories change with market. While there is a continuous resolve to make it increasingly relevant (brand association) to a broad segment, marketers are also working towards simplifying their narration. For instance, how does one make it relevant in social media?
“We have exactly 10 minutes, I’d like you to be to the point and fast,” is a dialogue that is commonly heard these days. Be it for a strategy presentation or an interview, everyone seem to be revisiting the past and following the words of the illustrious. As French author and aviator, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, said, "It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Many organizations emerged from the down turn reflected upon their imperfections and restructured themselves for future growth. And, what do they want to do? Simplify. For example, the Bangalore based Wipro Technologies recently announced reorganization of the company to make it simple. Leo Apothekar, the new CEO of HP says that the first thing he wants in 4-5 years is for people to be able to articulate what HP is all about in 30 seconds. In essence, as the business environment is getting complex, and as organizations are becoming ever more agile so as to accelerate growth, there is a need to make stories short. As Leonardo Da Vinci said, "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
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