Two months ago, in Chennai, Ashok Leyland celebrated its 70th anniversary in a manner that exemplified the power of corporate history.
Through a visual story-telling format, it presented a body of knowledge that traced the evolution of the company. It drove each of the seven decades into a huge room, parking posters and even machines redolent of it. So, the room marking the first decade of its existence, had an Austin A40 Devon. Ashok Leyland started its corporate journey as Ashok Motors, collaborating with the Austin Motor Company and assembling Austin cars. Visitors walking into the other decades — well, rooms — were greeted by the sight of lorries, school buses and double-deckers, special markers in the company's history.
After this historical tour, visitors got to have a special-effects photograph taken with them at the wheel of an Ashok Leyland heavy vehicle and their close ones sitting next to them.
There is no doubt that the exquisite no-fee exhibition helped the company sear its history into what can be called the “the collective corporate consciousness”.
It visibly ticked one of the two major objectives of corporate history – branding.
Knowledge base
The other one is about creating a knowledge base that successive workforces can dip into and gain a sense of direction for the future.
Of course, this concept is not fresh from the oven. But, it can be baked differently, a lot more differently. It can factor in the new workforce and new formats of information transfer. To do so, it has to take a fresh look at the concept of history.
A day’s history
“We tend to associate history with 'the long and distant past'. In our times, it is necessary to see history in the short-term, especially corporate history. There is history to be gleaned from the yesteryear and even yesterday. Even a company that is barely three years old will have past-data that forms its history. Analysing this data appropriately and interpreting it in the light of current goals is key to deriving the most out of it. The wisdom that comes from processing this knowledge will form a part of a company’s business intelligence,” says Donn S. Kabiraj, founder and president of Donn Corporation, a leadership-branding company.
Instagram chronicles
In this approach, corporate history is seen as something that is being made every day, and more importantly, something that has to be chronicled every day. It’s necessary to have a cross-functional team to record everyday history.
This may sound like a challenging situation, but the tools to meet it are at hand.
This team can even meet virtually and can be distributed across geographies. “Instagram can be a resource to record and disseminate everyday corporate history. Coffee-table books are still relevant. They help in capturing the larger picture. But snapshots of a company’s workaday life also have significance for its history. If wielded well, digital tools can capture the smaller moments of corporate history. These digital tools can just as effectively capture a company’s larger history,” says Kabiraj.
With the participation of digital natives on the increase, this approach is not just advisable, but essential. There is a key point to be made here. For millennials, digital technology is cradle. For the preceding generations, it is a new home they have moved into. And, it is a home they are getting increasingly comfortable with. So, digital corporate story-telling, which is essentially visual corporate history, holds an appeal that cuts across generations. The humongous success of the 2012 Kim Pagel-directed computer-animated short film “The LEGO story” is proof.
