Every Company Has A Story
No matter what company you work for – all companies have a story. Whether is is Apple starting in Steve Wozniak’s bedroom (not a garage as popular belief has it) or Richard Branson’s Virgin Group beginning in his parent’s basement, there is a story to be told.
Here in Korea there are some amazing stories about companies. One of my favourite companies is Hyundai. It is one of my favourites because there are so many stories about how Hyundai became the company it is today. For example, here in Korea, Hyundai has a hospital – the hospital is called Asan Medical Center The hospital got is name “Asan” because that is the name of the small village that Hyundai’s founder Ju Young Jong (정주영) was born in. Asan is located in what is now North Korea.
Below is a video clip of Ju Young Jong talking about how he got the famous Hyundai Shipyard built. – The video is in Korean, but the story is that he went to his Greek customer with only a picture and a map of the famous Hyundai shipyard – at this stage there was no shipyard – it was only a piece of land. Nevertheless, he said to his Greek customer if you give me a signed order, I will go to England and get the money to build the shipyard. The Greek buyer, agreed to the purchase and signed the order, and Ju Young Jong went to England and got the money. The rest, is history.
Ju Young Jong was an amazing guy, a brilliant business man and a great communicator. He understood the power of stories to sell his company’s products and he understood that stories created something his customers could talk about.
When you introduce your company, find the stories, how was it founded? Why was it founded? Where did it get it’s name from? Etc. These stories are interesting and it gives your audience something to remember you by.
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