When Henry Ford II was chairman of Ford Motor Company, you would have been hard pressed to find a manager who hadn’t heard how he reminded his executives when they got too arrogant, “It’s my name that’s on the building.” The message was clear: Henry Ford II ran the company.

Today, a number of senior Nike executives spend much of their time serving as corporate storytellers.53 When they tell how co-founder (and Oregon track coach) Bill Bowerman went to his workshop and poured rubber into a waffle iron to create a better running shoe, they’re talking about Nike’s spirit of innovation. When new hires hear tales of Oregon running star Steve Prefontaine’s battles to make running a professional sport and attain better performance equipment, they learn of Nike’s commitment to helping athletes.

Stories such as these circulate through many organizations, anchoring the present in the past and legitimizing current practices. They typically include narratives about the organization’s founders, rule breaking, rags-to-riches successes, workforce reductions, relocations of employees, reactions to past mistakes, and organizational coping.54 Employees also create their own narratives about how they came to either fit or not fit with the organization during the process of socialization, including first days on the job, early interactions with others, and first impressions of organizational life.55

Rituals are repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization—what goals are most important and/or which people are important versus which are expendable.56 Some companies have nontraditional rituals to help support the values of their cultures. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, maintains its customer-oriented culture with traditions like a Housekeeping Olympics that includes blindfolded bedmaking and vacuum races.57 At marketing firm United Entertainment Group, employees work unusual hours a few times a year, arriving in the late afternoon and working until early morning. CEO Jarrod Moses does this to support a culture of creativity. He says, “You mess with somebody’s internal clock, and some interesting ideas come out.”58

The layout of corporate headquarters, the types of automobiles top executives are given, and the presence or absence of corporate aircraft are a few examples of material symbols. Others include the size of offices, the elegance of furnishings, perks, and attire.59 These convey to employees who is important, the degree of egalitarianism top management desires, and the kinds of behavior that are appropriate, such as risk taking, conservative, authoritarian, participative, individualistic, or social.

One example of the intentional use of material symbols is Texas electric company Dynegy. Dynegy’s headquarters doesn’t look like your typical head-office operation. There are few individual offices, even for senior executives. The space is essentially made up of cubicles, common areas, and meeting rooms. This informality conveys to employees that Dynegy values openness, equality, creativity, and flexibility. While some organizations provide their top executives with chauffeur-driven limousines and a corporate jet, other CEOs drive the company car themselves and travel in the economy section. At some firms, like Chicago shirtmaker Threadless, an “anything goes” atmosphere helps emphasize a creative culture. Threadless meetings are held in an Airstream camper parked inside the company’s converted FedEx warehouse, while employees in shorts and flip-flops work in bullpens featuring disco balls and garish decorations chosen by each team.60

Some cultures are known for the perks in their environments, such as Google’s bocce courts, FACTSET Research’s on-site pie/cheese/cupcake trucks, software designer Autodesk’s bring-your-dog office, SAS’s free health care clinic, Microsoft’s organic spa, and adventure-gear specialist REI’s free equipment rentals. Other companies communicate the values of their cultures through the gift of time to think creatively, either with leaders or off-site. For instance, Biotech leader Genentech and many other top companies provide paid sabbaticals. Genentech offers every employee 6 weeks’ paid leave for every 6 years of service to support a culture of equitability and innovative thinking.61

Many organizations and subunits within them use language to help members identify with the culture, attest to their acceptance of it, and help preserve it. Unique terms describe equipment, officers, key individuals, suppliers, customers, or products that relate to the business. New employees may at first be overwhelmed by acronyms and jargon that, once assimilated, act as a common denominator to unite members of a given culture or subculture.