Understanding corporate culture - the importance of stories & the HP Garage

Johnson & Scholes in their model of the Cultural Web of an Organisation point to the importance of stories as powerful descriptors and shapers of the culture of a business.The more organisations you work in or with, the more you come across stories. They are told about a business to reinforce (or deny) a company's vision, values and way of doing business. Told well (and often) they help send strong messages to those who hear the stories, particularly those who work inside the business or customers who build loyalty to a business & brand.One of the most famous "stories" in corporate culture is that of the Hewlett-Packard Garage at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, California. The HP Garage is known as the "birthplace of Silicon Valley". As HP today describe the Garage:Tucked away on a quiet, tree-lined residential street near Stanford University, the HP Garage stands today as the enduring symbol of innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. It was in this humble 12x18 -foot building that college friends Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard first pursued the dream of a company of their own. Guided by an unwavering desire to develop innovative and useful products, the two men went on to blaze a trail at the forefront of the electronics revolution.