Nicely connected to Kingsnorth’s Holy Wells.
A Halloween-themed article on organizational ghosts by a prof of Business at BYU.
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Bednar himself regularly experienced “ghostly encounters” with an organizational ghost when he interned at Walmart headquarters in 2005. He noticed that the buildings he worked in had pictures and quotes of Walmart founder Sam Walton, who passed away in 1992, all over the walls, and employees constantly referenced Sam and told stories about him. Bednar was intrigued by the impact that Walton still had on the company over 10 years after his death.
“People in meetings were always talking about how they should try to do things the way Sam would have,” Bednar said. “It fascinated me, the impact and influence a leader could have on an organization even after they’re gone.”
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The ghost of Henry Ford is still making a difference. One of the workers interviewed by Status Coup had worked at all of the Big Three and said that Ford is the most family-friendly because an actual Ford descendant (Henry’s great-grandson) is still on the board. Ford was the first to grant UAW’s demands.
GM got rid of Billy Durant quickly, and Walter Chrysler didn’t leave a legacy. The current ghost of Chrysler was acqui-hired when it bought Willys in 1987. The Willys ghost is all-powerful, and its reincarnation in Brooks Stevens is still influencing the cars and styles.
I’ve also noticed a difference in founder ghosts among cities. Ponca’s actual founder was Burton Barnes, but his ghost didn’t stick. EW Marland and Lew Wentz reghosted the city in the 1920s, and both were still very much “alive” in legends and neighborhoods and place names in the ’70s.
Spokane is totally spiritless. Its founders left some names but no stories or ghosts. Henry Kaiser owned the place in the ’20s in the same way that Marland owned Ponca, but Kaiser left nothing at all. No streets, no mansions, no parks, no legends.
Manhattan has a split legacy. The town and K-State were both founded by Isaac Goodnow. The town remained under the spirit of Goodnow’s fanatical theory-bound Wokeness, but the university was quickly reghosted by the benign practical spirit of John Anderson.
Polistra's Mill 