Most executives focus on the present and the future. When an organization’s history comes up, it is usually in connection with an anniversary. A changing world leaves little time for nostalgia. However, leaders with a sense of history know that understanding the past is a powerful tool for shaping the future.

Leaders inspire efforts and devise strategies for the future by harnessing organizational history. As a leader strives to engage people collectively, communicating the enterprise’s history instills a sense of identity and purpose. Leaders use history to advocate for change and motivate people to overcome challenges. It acts as a problem-solving tool, one that offers insights and meaningful perspectives.

History as a Management and Leadership Tool

 Studying history entails the ability to:

• Explain the flow of events as a process over time, not just a sequence of isolated happenings.

• Approach the past with a sense of surprise—that is, regard events as uncertain and thus recapture them unaffected by their outcomes.

• Treat the past on its terms and in ways comprehensible to people of the time. People often distort the past through the lens of their experiences, ideas, and values.

• Understand historical events in their contemporary social, intellectual, political, and economic contexts.

Shared History

A shared history binds people to a community and imbues a group identity. A narrative history helps people understand what is happening around them. Knowing an organization’s history can help employees see events as something larger than themselves. 

Managing Change

History transforms cultures. Change is challenging for people to embrace. Leaders can look beyond today’s stories to discover other ones. Even when the future can be discerned in the past, leaders can use their history to explain how the organization needs change and why actions are necessary to adapt to a new way of doing things.

To lead with a sense of history acknowledges its power. An organization’s culture and capabilities, development, and interactions with external forces shape the choices leaders make and influence how people think about the future.

A Way Forward

Great leaders never ignore history until the time comes to plan their organization’s next anniversary. They think about the past in the present. They make their organization’s experience an explicit part of their thinking to discern what form change should take. They find a rich source of stories to motivate people to embrace change even in the worst of times. In doing so, they manage their companies more effectively and find their place in history.

Applying History to Your Organization

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