By David M. Boje, Jan 30 2007
Polyphonic Strategy Story is defined as one written, visualized or orally-told by all the stakeholders to an organization. Very rare [Source Boje, Storytelling Organization book, chapter 4].
Strategy story consulting has been exceeding popular and lucrative since the 1970s. It’s the mainstay of any story consulting business. Mostly it is done by charletons who have no academic training in folklore, anthropology, history, or narrative. So you find a lot of 90-second pitch or springy 2-minute stump stories that are supposed to make executives powerful storytellers. Tell a short story and transform the organization in an instant! It is far fetched, and wrong-headed, but it sells. It's about as effective as yelling at a mountain, to 'move!' Only one has ever succeeded.
The good news. There is a way to write an effective strategy story. I am inspired by Gertude Stein (1931) who says there is no difference between a short story and a paragraph. The paragraph I have in mind has six or seven sentences (some are even whole paragraphs), but let us start with the concise ones.
Strategy story tells an organization where they came from, what they are now, where they are going.
1. Logo is a symbol identifying the organization to others.
2. Logo is a story of what are key values?
3.Plot is a story of how to get from mission to vision?
4. Mission is story of who are the customers and why the organization exists?
5. Vision is a story of where we are going?
6. Founding story answers the question where the organiztion comes from?
7. Pitch story answers the wuestion, what pain in the world does the organization answer?
Let's look at example of Nike, IBM, and McDonald's:
1. Logo is defined as the symbol of the corporation, often not a sentence, but can be a letter or image (e.g. Nike: ‘Checkmark’ or ‘SWOOSH’ sound --- in 1971 Knight paid Caroline Davidson [student at Portland State University] $35 for the Swoosh logo; McDonald’s: ‘M’ or ‘Golden Arches’ IBM: just letters IBM).
2. Motto defined as a sentence (sometimes a word or skaz-phrase) stating the moral sentiment that binds logo to the sentences that follow (e.g. Nike: ‘Just Do It!’ McDonald’s: ‘I’m Lovin’ It!’, circa 2002; IBM: ‘Think!’ (Thomas J. Watson, Sr., circa 1914).
3. Plot defined as a sentence stating sequence of events that will get enterprise from mission to vision (e.g. Nike: ‘In 1962 Phil Knight wrote a term paper with the plot, low-priced shoe exports from Japan could replace Germany’s domination over US running shoe industry.’ Nike’s strategy in 2006 10-K, p. 26), “ Our strategy for building this portfolio is focused in four key areas:
McDonald’s Annual Report 2005, p. 6: “Strategy is Plan to Win”, also known as 5 P’s (p. 10-11) people, products, place, price, & promotion). What is plan to win? McDonald’s 2006 Annual Report (McDonalds.com) reports only that it has a “Plan to Win Strategy” that was published in 2005.
“Marking a third year of progress under our Plan to Win, McDonald’s achieved 32 months of positive global comparative sales as of December 2005 – Our longest streak in more than 25 years” (p. 5 2005 McDonalds Annual Report). Page 6 is the only use of the word strategy, which is labeled “Plan to Win.” Plan to Win was introduced in 2003, “returning $4.3 billion to shareholders” since 2002 (2005 Annual Report, p. 7). Plan to Win is guided by McDonald’s “Forever Young brand essence” (2005 Annual Report, pp. 8 & 9). Plan to Win includes the 5 P’s (people, product, place, price, & promotion) (2005 Annual Report, pp. 9-11). The balanced focus on all 5 P’s is said to be a “holistic approach.”
IBM 2005 Annual Report, p. 14: “Strategically, the company has exited commoditized businesses, increased its concentration in higher-value businesses and created a more balanced portfolio.”
4. Mission defined as sentence that answers the questions, who are our customers, why do we exist? (e.g. Nike’s 2006 Annual Report: New CEO Mark Parker asks, “what part of the Nike story should I focus on?” then mentions brand 8 times; Nike 2006 10-K, p. 26 “NIKE designs, develops and markets high quality footwear, apparel, equipment and accessory products worldwide.” Or “Our goal is to deliver value to our shareholders by building a profitable portfolio of global footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories brands.” McDonald’s 2005 Annual Report, p. 10: “Our Brand Mission is to be our customer’s favorite place and way to eat.” IBM 2005 Annual Report, p. 43: “The mission of Global Financing is to generate a return on equity and to facilitate the client’s acquisition of IBM hardware, software and services” (different mission for each division).
5. Vision defined as sentence that answers the question, where are we going? (e. g. Nike:: for every sport brand a team or sports legend to sell it. McDonald’s 2005 p. 4: “Our mission. Becoming our customers’ favorite place and way to eat” (note their vision & mission are same); IBM 2005 Annual Report, p. 10: “vision … ‘Innovation that matters’.”)
6. Founding Story defined as sentence or paragraph (or longer), answers the question, where did we come from? (e.g. Nike: In a Stanford small business class, Phil Knight conceived the game plan in a term paper. He chased down celebrities like Michael Jordan to endorse it. “Nike founder Phil Knight shadowed [Tiger Woods] from hole to hole, appraising the young phenom's every smile the way a golf coach would his swing. ‘I hope we sign him,’ Knight said at the time. ‘If not, I hope he goes to medical school’.” McDonald’s: ‘some say it was Ray Kroc figure out the concepts behind assembly line fast food, invented fast food that tastes the same everywhere, in décor that looks the same everywhere; others say it the McDonald’s brothers founding story repackaged). IBM’s predecessor was Computing- Tabulating- Recording Company (C-T-R), June 15 1911.
6. Pitch Story defined as a sententce answering the wuestion, what pain in the world does the organization answer? Nike: to provide designer athletic shoes, apparel, equipment, and accessaries to sports conscious consumers. McDonald's: to provide healthy, nutritious fast food. IBM: think up innovative computer solutions.
Short Strategy Story is not all there is to this story consulting. There is a geneaology to the strategy, a change from one moto to another.Take McDonald's, for example, the changes are almost yearly.
Table 2 McDonald’s Mottos over the years
There is a time for story control. For example, McDonald's faced with consumer shift in preferences, wanting healthy, nutritious food, and worried about getting fat (especially in Houston Texas) decided to change strategy stroy. That meant a new plot and a new clown-image.
New Plot was McDonald’s Eat Smart. Be Active Global Business Strategy is written in one sentence: “To be the leading restaurant promoting healthy, happy, and active lifestyles everywhere we do business” (Kapica, 2004: slide #17).
New Clown Image - In 1999 there was a Camp Ronald strategy retreat, and it was decided to replace the Ronald in the 1st 3 films with a much thinner model in the last 3 films. The old Ronald is plumper, more lethargic, and more easy-going, like a Mr. Rogers. The new Ronald is thinner, and more hyper, like a Jim Carey. The two clowns do their live acts at the beginning and the ending segment, sandwiching the animated portion of each film. This strategy change in the stylistic image of the Clown Ronald, was accompanied by a new set of Videos, and a new show, for the Ronald-clones to perform across the US, getting customers and employees to do fitness workouts and take a walk through the neighborhood.
Each new CEO can mark a change in strategy story, a reinterpretion of founding story, a new puctuation of historial events. Nike’s new CEO Mark Parker wrote in his letter to shareholders:
I thought long and hard about what to say in my first letter as your new CEO. What part of the Nike story should I focus on? What do you as a shareholder want to know about our future together? What is Nike doing to grow into its potential?
You can see the shift to more of a brand strategy, a shift in plot. The new Nike CEO’s first letter to shareholders goes on to insist on the important of innovation. 9 Jan 2007, Nike announced a “new Nike category brand management strategy for core business segments” -Nike Press Release 9 Jan 2007. What is Nike’s category brand strategy? We can get some idea of their tie between strategy and story, their strategy story, by looking at interviews with brand managers in the 2004 Annual Report:
What will take Nike beyond our current growth strategy? What does a better, bigger Nike look and feel like? The one thing we have learned to count on is that the world of sports will continue to supply us with the stories, the personalities and the challenges to improve our product, our brand and our performance (p. 6).
Nike has not given up its commitment to storytelling. Nike’s growth strategy is to “continue to supply us with the stories… to improve our product, our brand and our performance” (2004 Nike Annual Report, p. 6, ibid). in 2006, Nike reported that their “company’s strategy to assign a dedicated team to that global product category propelled the expansion of the business from $40 million in 1994 to $1.5 billion today.”
Neither has Disney. The 2006 Annual Report for Disney, states “From Snow White to this summer's new Pirates of the Caribbean adventure, our skill is in creating extraordinary worlds, compelling stories, memorable characters and rewarding experiences for audiences everywhere.”
There is another side writing story strategy.
Now a very select few mottos -seem to be very polyphonic, composed from many voices:
The problem for story consultants is how to facilitate a polyphonic storytelling, when its stuck in managerialist (top down) control story practices.
There is another way to look at strategy story. There is the cover strategy story and a more underground, taboo topic, scandal (& spectacle), back stage cooridor of pwoer, psychoanalytic story, addictive system, and metascript way of looking at it. The cover story is the logo, motto, plot, mission, vision, founding story, and even the pitch story. But then there is also all the coverup, all that spin going on.
Nike, for example, mixes enoght fantasy with fact to make their cover stroies sound credible. Mcdonald's trims down its Ronald clown, cretes an international committee of nutritionists who will swear fast food is healthy if you exercise, drink plenty of water, etc. IBM claims it is innovative. Beneath the cover story, there are many interesting hidden stories, and a backlash of counterstories. To construct a polyphonic strategy story means going through the crucible of a more Socratic Story Circle.
A succession of logos and name changes occur. IBM was not always IBM. Nike was once Tiger Shoes, and a partnerwhip wiht Knights University of Oregen track coach. McDonald's had mottos and a different clown (named Speedy) before Ray Kroc. There are also important changes in plot, such as the one the new Nike CEO is bringing. Jim Cantalupe brought in McDonald's salads, and then he died, and so did his replacement. There is a sage of emerging facets of the founding story being restoried over time. Certinaly at McDonald's the McDonald's brothers innovations in making fast food really fast (15 seconds wait to get the burger, separate line for fries). The brothers put the plot of the factory into operation by marking out the new production system on their tennis court, firing all the young women on roller skates, and hiring young men who let customers queue up. Now Ray Kroc gets credit for the innovations in production. Indeed Mcdonald brother sold a few franchises before Ray came on board. The successive changes in vision (direction) and mission (what they do, how they do it, who they do it to) keeps changing. And if there is a pitch story, the important thing about it, is that it keeps changing with the times, keeps chainging with each new person, keeps changing to answer the shift in pain of the consumers and investors.
Doing some critical strategy inquiry is necessary to getting to a more polyphonic strategy story. It means a convening of all the staokeholders, even ones who disagree with management plot, mission, vision, etc. In the underground there are counterstories, about socioeconomic scandals and spectals. There are stories of a backstage cooridor of power (See Jimmy Stewart's book on Disney and Michael Eisner). Then there's the metascipt
Metascript is defined as the multiplicity of scripts (mostly unwritten ones) that define the field of actions, where strategies are plotted, characters get trained in their lines, and many feel con-scripted (imprisoned) in their character roles (Savall, 2001) [See chapter 10 in Storytelling Organization book].
There are many scripts, and many players waiting in the wings, thinking they can do a better job than those on the stage. There are script writers, editors, and coaches. There are directors. A strategy stories has many authors, editors, directors, beholder-spectators, and acting characters. Put into the context of Tamara (many rooms, spectators chasing charactors, networking across a dozen stages) you get some idea why a 90 second pitch story is highly ineffective promise the CEO can use it to make any meaningful difference. There are just too many simultaneous stages, too many people, all at once, telling stories, and others trying to make sense of it all.
Bakhtin (1981, 1990) posits what I will call an A-B-C-D model of storytelling, and its more architectonic dialogism:
The vast overwhelming majority of story consulting is obsessed with BME strategy narrative. Ironically, BME is not the majority, which I would say belongs more appropriately to Horsesense, of which there is very little story consulting whatsoever. Strategy story is what story consulting would like to do, to wed strategy plan or implementation to story. A strategy has no use in itself until it fuses in story.
Often strategy is not considered an emotional activity, more of the rational, yet, Emotive-Ethical strategy story is very practiced, but not so much by story consultants. Many of the mottos we reviewed are emotive, some even have ethical pretense. Strategy is not thought to be emotional, just your regular five-sensemaking cognitive rationality will do, thank you very much.
There are other sensemaking approaches important to strategy story. Tamara and Dialectics, antenarrative, and fragmentation are completely taboo topics for story consulting (see Introduction for definitions). Yet, once again, it is ironic to look at how they proliferate in assisted practices of organizations. You see strategy story is not all about retrospective sensemaking (be it BME or fragmentation). The reflexivity practices of Dialectic, Horsesense, Polypi dialogisms, Antenarrative prophesy of the future are all being widely used in practice. No, its clearly BME strategy narrative that dominates the field of story consulting, but has missed the emerging markets. Perfect fit for all that springy two-minute story instruction.
In sum, strategy story keeps changing and rearranging periodically. this means a geneaology is needed to see where the organizaiton story has been restoried. A more polyphonic strategy story is a collective enterprise of all the stakeholders. It means sitting down together to bargain and negotiate a collectively imagined story strategy. It dow not mean everyone's sentence gets incoldued. It does mean they can see their point of view linked somehow to the story.
The strategy story is neverending revision, a veritible antnarrative bet, often made annually.
Web Links
All Nike items in this section are from http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/investors
Jackie Krentzman, Stanford Magazine, ‘the Force Behind the Smile.’ 1997 on line http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/1997/janfeb/articles/knight.html
The official story of McDonald’s founding from the McDonalds.com web site: In 1954 “Ray Kroc had never seen so many people served so quickly when he pulled up to take a look. Seizing the day, he pitched the idea of opening up several restaurants to the brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, convinced that he could sell eight of his Multimixers to each and every one. ‘Who could we get to open them for us?’ Dick McDonald said. ‘Well,’ Kroc answered, ‘what about me?’…”
KISS motto came from http://www.darron.net/philosophy.html; Kroc’s God, country, McD’s motto is from http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/reports/trans.html; items after 1957 to 2003 – Apr 14 2004 JS Online Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Fast-food icon's first franchise opened 49 years ago Thursday By JAN UEBELHERR http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=222159; Except for 2000 Fiesta motto - Where Are the Hamburgers - McDonald's new Fiesta menu Los Angeles Business Journal, Oct 16, 2000 by Merrill Shindler 2005 Are you Mac enough http://www.urbanracer.com/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=1287
http://corporate.disney.go.com/investors/annual_reports.html
http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/investors/annual_report/ar_06/index.jsp
http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/news/pressrelease.jhtml?year=2007&month=01&letter=b
http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/investors/annual_report/ar_04/ar2004.jhtml?page=interview
http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/news/pressrelease.jhtml?year=2006&month=08&letter=a