Bayer Australia and New Zealand wanted to become a more integrated organization called "One Bayer" by overcoming silos and helping staff understand the company's direction. Anecdote helped by training the HR team in storytelling and working with executives to develop a strategic story. This story was then communicated to top leaders and used to improve communication and help staff understand the company's goals. Feedback showed the story helped leaders present a common message and employees heard the story from their leaders within 3 months. Similarly, Anecdote helped pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim develop a strategic story for their Asia Pacific region, which regional leaders then learned to tell effectively. The client said this story had a "massive impact" and she

1. Distribution by Persona GLOBAL, Inc. 2014. © Anecdote.
Sales Case Study: Broading a
Storytelling for Leaders Workshop into Consulting
Bayer Australia and New Zealand:
Bayer Australia and New Zealand realized they had the potential to be even more successful by becoming
an integrated organization: One Bayer. This meant overcoming several challenges: integrating numerous
major acquisitions, moving from autonomous units (silos) into an integrated and collaborative structure and
overcoming staff concerns about not understanding the company’s direction and what they could do to assist.
In early 2013, they engaged Anecdote to assist overcome these challenges. The first step was for the HR partner
group to go through the Storytelling for Leaders™ program so they could coach executives through the next
steps. We then worked with the executive team, using the Clarity Story pattern and our Making Strategy Stick
process to convert the One Bayer strategy into a strategic story.
The next step was to use the Storytelling for Leaders content and the strategic story as the basis for teaching
the top 100 Australia/New Zealand leaders how to communicate the story to their staff and to use storytelling
to improve their communication effectiveness.
Feedback from the senior executives was that for the first time they felt they could put aside their differences and
adopt a common message. Every employee heard the story within 3 months from their leader. Their objective
on becoming ‘One Bayer’ was much closer as a result of the process.
Boehringer Ingelheim:
Boehringer Ingelheim is a global pharmaceutical company who we helped create their strategic story for Asia
Pacific. In 2011 we were engaged by Dr Gudrun Schmidt, Regional Medical Director Asia and Middle East -
Boehringer Ingelheim to help achieve greater strategic clarity for the region. Once the strategy story was crafted,
the regional leadership team learned how to tell it effectively as part of a Storytelling for Leaders program. We
were again engaged in 2014 to do the same process for Europe.
Here is a testimonial from the client:
“Our strategic story has had a massive impact. This will be the legacy I leave behind as I move back to Europe to
head up 70 countries for BI and the first thing I want to do is create and share a European strategic story for BI.”
- Dr Gudrun Schmidt, Regional Medical Director Asia and Middle East - Boehringer Ingelheim
STORYTELLING
FOR LEADERS
Page 1
LEADERSHIP, PERFORMANCE MANAGING, TEAMS, AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERIES