Beyond the Message: How CEOs Can Forge Meaningful Connections with Their Employees

The Power of Identity and Storytelling in Building Employee Engagement and Driving Change

In the modern corporate world, CEOs often deliver messages that are factually sound but fail to resonate with employees on a deeper level. These leaders might announce critical business goals, such as, “We are losing market share,” yet fail to spark any real engagement. In fact, one simple, yet eye-opening, conversation in 2016 revealed a deeper truth about leadership communication and employee connection.

I was speaking with Mariam, an employee who had just attended a company-wide town hall where the CEO had stressed the need for change. “We need to change our ways of working because we are losing market share,” the CEO had said. But when I asked Mariam what she had taken away from the presentation, she replied, “Something about market share, but truth be told, I don’t get paid enough to worry about market share.”

It was in that moment that I realized a fundamental issue: CEOs often say the right things, but they fail to connect with their employees. The CEO may care about market share—after all, it’s their responsibility—but that doesn’t mean the employees will feel the same way. Mariam, like many others, wasn’t invested in the company’s overall performance. And that’s where the disconnect begins.

The Missing Link: Connection in Communication

This interaction set me on a path to better understand why corporate messages so often fail to inspire action. Could storytelling—the art of crafting a compelling narrative—be the missing link? Initially, I believed that simply framing messages around “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM) would solve the problem. After all, if employees understand how they personally benefit from a change, they would be more likely to embrace it. But I quickly realized that employees are often hesitant to rely on group efforts to achieve rewards. When bonuses or collective achievements are presented as the primary motivation, individuals fear that others won’t contribute enough to make the collective effort worthwhile.

Moreover, the typical corporate purpose statements—no matter how well-intentioned—often fail to strike the emotional chord that employees need. Take, for example, this popular purpose statement: “To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” It sounds noble, but does it emotionally resonate with employees? Not always. One of my friends quipped, “Great, I’d like to start by making myself more productive!” The statement doesn’t provide employees with an opportunity to feel seen, heard, or valued.

As Dr. Brené Brown so eloquently stated, “Connection is the exchange of energy when people feel seen, heard, and valued.” Employees want to feel that their individual contributions matter, and a focus solely on external stakeholders, such as customers, doesn’t always satisfy this need. If the connection between employee and organization isn’t clear, disengagement is inevitable.

Identity: The Key to Meaningful Connection

The solution lies not only in emphasizing purpose but also in connecting that purpose to the employee’s identity. Purpose is important, but purpose without identity rarely drives action. James Clear, in Atomic Habits, asserts that identity drives behavior far more than goals do. This insight is particularly relevant in corporate change initiatives. If leaders want employees to embrace change, they need to help employees see that change as a reflection of a new, positive identity—one that aligns with their values and sense of self.

Consider the example of healthcare professionals. As Atul Gawande writes in Being Mortal, clinicians derive their identity from their competence. If they can’t solve a patient’s problem, it threatens their professional identity. This illustrates an important truth: people don’t just want to make a difference—they want to feel they can make a difference. Identity is what empowers people to take action in line with their purpose.

Adam Grant’s Purpose Experiment: Connecting Identity and Purpose

The connection between identity and purpose has been clearly demonstrated in Adam Grant’s famous Purpose Experiment conducted in 2008. In this experiment, Grant divided call center employees at a university into three groups:

• Group 1 heard about the personal benefits of the job.
• Group 2 learned about the impact their work had on scholarship recipients.
• Group 3 received no special intervention.

A month later, Group 2—the group that heard stories of their impact—more than doubled their donations, from 9 to 23, and tripled the total funds raised. This experiment highlights that when employees understand the deeper purpose of their work, they align their actions with their identities as contributors to a greater cause. Purpose becomes truly meaningful when it helps individuals understand the person they are becoming through their work.

Bridging the Corporate Connection Gap with Stories

In the corporate world, many change initiatives are framed in transactional terms, which fail to resonate with employees. Statements like, “We need to transform our factory to increase productivity,” sound cold and impersonal. To employees, such statements translate to: “This change is hard. I have to learn new things. Management doesn’t care how this affects me.” This approach turns change into a corporate necessity rather than a personal opportunity.

The key to bridging this gap lies in storytelling. Leaders can transform dry, transactional messaging into compelling stories that are personally relevant to employees. Consider this alternative:

• Instead of saying, “We need to transform our factory to increase productivity.”
• Say, “This is an opportunity for us to become Supervisors of Robots. Over the past two years, demand for our product has quadrupled, but our workforce has stayed the same. I’ve seen many of our employees working overtime and sacrificing weekends. By adopting new technology, we’ll free up time to learn new skills and become Supervisors of Robots.”

This narrative reframes a challenging change initiative into an opportunity for personal growth and skill development, aligning the change with employees’ identities and giving them ownership over the process.

Crafting Stories that Build Connection

As James Clear wrote in Atomic Habits: “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” CEOs and leaders must remember that their employees are not just workers—they are individuals with their own identities, values, and aspirations. When leaders craft stories that help employees see themselves as integral parts of the organizational journey, they create an emotional connection that transcends transactional messaging.

To build true connection, CEOs must go beyond simply stating facts or business goals. They must create narratives that invite employees to see themselves as part of a larger mission, aligning company objectives with their own sense of identity. Only then can organizations unlock the full potential of their workforce, transforming employees from passive participants into passionate advocates who take ownership of their roles and contribute to the company’s success.

In the end, connection isn’t about saying the right things; it’s about making employees feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves. Through identity-driven communication and compelling storytelling, CEOs can bridge the gap between corporate objectives and employee engagement—leading to lasting change and sustained success.