????本文是吉姆?斯登格為財富網站撰寫的系列文章中的第五部分。斯登格曾經擔任寶潔公司（Procter & Gamble）首席營銷官，同時也是《增長力：如何打造世界頂級品牌》（Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies）一書的作者。在本篇及下一篇亦即最后一篇客座文章中，吉姆探究了那些最好的理想驅動型公司的最佳實踐，同時還探討了它們在競爭中脫穎而出的秘訣。

????踏入這個溫控倉庫，感覺就像是來到了棒球界不朽巨人們的面前。

????我們走進的是Louisville Slugger公司的圣殿：這里存放著各種棒球棒模型，每一桿都是根據一名專業球員的規格度身定制的。這些模型擺滿靠墻排列的水平陳列架。走到一個標記有“R43”的格子時，營銷副總裁凱爾?施萊格爾虔誠地取下其中一把。他小聲說：“這是貝比?魯斯（美國19世紀20、30年代著名職業棒球運動員）所有球棒的模版。”

????富有傳奇色彩的Louisville Slugger公司誕生于1884年。相傳，當年一名17歲的棒球迷將一位大聯盟球手請到了自己父親的木工作坊。這位路易維爾日蝕隊（即現在的路易維爾上校隊）球星正處于職業生涯的低估，而且還把球棒打折了。年輕人便按照這位球員的規格手工制作了一根新球棒。

????Louisville Slugger的品牌理念，或者說品牌目的，是“成就偉大的球手”。聽著可能像是吹牛，但圍繞這個品牌的故事卻讓它顯得樸素實在。大多數受理念驅動的公司都是如此。故事會讓理念生生不息。

????故事在營銷與管理中的重要性已經得到大量論證，但要論故事所扮演的角色之重，莫過于在理念驅動型企業之中。他們將理念加以定義、給予認證并賦予生命。它們啟發并引導理念在實踐中的應用。它們一再肯定當初的路線，將敘事貫穿始終。

????我們用了一年時間拜訪由理念驅動的公司，其間我們發現，兩種類型的故事最能滋養理想議程。其中一種故事被《贏得講故事之戰》（Winning the Story Wars）一書的作者約拿?薩克斯稱為“創世紀故事”。

????創世紀故事展現了品牌或公司創立之初的動機。正如那位棒球迷為球員打磨球棒的故事一樣，每一家偉大的公司都是對某個真實存在的特定顧客需求的響應。而創世紀故事正是理清了這一點。

????聯合利華（Unilever）創世紀故事為CEO保羅?波爾曼提供著靈感和指引。他在2009年接掌公司前的幾個月里研讀了聯合利華的創始歷程。身為一名空降CEO，他自覺自愿地承擔起了一向責任，比大多數人都深入地了解公司的傳承。

????故事緣起于19世紀90年代，故事的主人公是威廉?赫斯基思?利華，他嘗試用自己新推出的Sunlight（“陽光”）牌肥皂“使清潔成為家常便飯”，同時緩解英國維多利亞時期泛濫成災的衛生問題。20世紀后葉的英國，每兩個新生兒中就有一個活不過第一年。

????This is Part 5 of a series for Fortune.com by Jim Stengel, former global CMO of Procter & Gamble and author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies. In today's Guest Post and his final Guest Post next Friday, Jim digs into the best practices of the best ideal-based companies and explores how they outgrow their competition.

????Stepping into the temperature-controlled vault, we felt like we were in the presence of baseball's immortal greats.

????We were inside a hallowed sanctum at Louisville Slugger: an archive of bat models, each custom-designed to the specifications of a pro. The models fill horizontal racks that line the walls. Reaching to a slot marked R43, Marketing VP Kyle Schlegel reverently withdrew one. "This was the template for all of Babe Ruth's bats," he whispered.

????According to legend, the iconic Louisville Slugger bat was born in 1884, when a 17-year-old baseball fan invited a major league player to his father's woodworking shop. The star of the Louisville Eclipse was mired in a hitting slump and had broken his bat. The teen handcrafted a new bat to the player's specifications. The next day the Louisville star got three hits.

????The Brand Ideal, or Purpose, of Louisville Slugger is "to make players great." That statement could sound like puffery, except that the stories surrounding the brand make it plain and true. This is the case for most Ideal-driven businesses. Stories make the Ideal wheel spin.

????Much has been written about the importance of storytelling in marketing and management, but nowhere do tales have a taller order than inside the walls of Ideal-driven companies. They bring definition to the Ideal. They authenticate it and animate it. They inspire and direct its activation. They reaffirm the course and perpetuate the narrative.

????In our year-long journey visiting Ideal-driven companies, we uncovered two types of stories that are particularly nutritive to the Ideal agenda. The first is what Jonah Sachs, author of Winning the Story Wars, calls "genesis stories."

????Genesis stories illuminate the motivation behind the brand or the company at its founding. Like the baseball fan milling a bat for a pro, every great business is a response to a real and specific customer need. And the genesis story clarifies this.

????At Unilever, the genesis story provides inspiration and direction for CEO Paul Polman. In the months before he took charge in 2009, he studied Unilever's genesis. As an outside hire, he made it his business to know the heritage story better than most anyone else.

????That story began in the 1890s with William Hesketh Lever, who sought to use his new Sunlight brand soap to "make cleanliness commonplace" and mitigate hygiene-related problems that plagued Victorian England. In late 19th century Britain, one of every two babies would not survive their first year.