Groups of all sizes have a language identity, which reveals itself in differing intensity through group-specific grammar, cognitive patterns, and a shared semantic memory. That language identity makes the group distinct and reflects group cohesion as well as crucial socio-cognitive dynamics. This interdisciplinary, mixed-methods study sought to explore to what extent a shared language identity can be traced in successful organizations. For this purpose, 10 archived interviews from three self-described successful companies were searched for identity claims pertaining to "Who we are," "What we do," "How we do what we do," "How we know we belong," and "What we can be in the future." Within these claims, dominant cognitive patterns were identified and traced across the organizations by recurrence rate. The results provide a microscopic view of how emergent organizational identity formation takes place from a linguistic perspective. The study uncovered a complex linguistic sensemaking process underneath Weick's (1995) organizational sensemaking process. The study further uncovered a cognitive prototype per case company, which marked the boundaries of each organization's identity. A dynamic recurrence rate of cognitive-patterns could be traced, which evidenced a specific balance of thought diversity versus thought homogeneity. The relevance of the findings for OD practice and identity research is finally detailed.