Driving the Narrative: Bronco, Ultium, and the Stories We Build

In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, Dr. William Hoffman explores two startlingly different methods in the car industry—one based on memory and the other on momentum.  

This episode examines how legacy corporations navigate the conflict between nostalgia and futurity, using Ford's spectacular resuscitation of the Bronco and General Motors' vast shift toward electrification as examples.

Ford's Bronco revitalization is noted as a case study in retrospective sensemaking. This uses memory and nostalgia as to look backward as a strategy for going, ironically, forward (with modifications). It's a masterclass in vintage visuals and emotional values from an imaginary past to inspire allegiance in the present.    

Meanwhile, GM's Ultium platform represents a different narrative: prospective sensemaking. Here, an organization leaves a pre-crisis self and repositions itself as, in GM's case, a mobility company to meet needs into the 2030s and 2040s.

Both proclaim they are built to last.

This episode considers organizational narrative and symbolic coherence as priorities in the decisions that shape strategy.  

• How can organizations make sense of their history while preparing for an unknown future?   What happens when memory and imagination work in different directions?
• How can storytelling, in addition to data, be an engine of transformation?

Note - This episode contains brief clips of archival audio, used under the Fair Use doctrine as defined in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (Title 17, U.S. Code § 107), which permits use for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.

All usage is for non-commercial, educational, and transformative analysis.  

 

 

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