Creed: Sharing Your Wisdom Through Story is Your Best Legacy

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Part of our ‘Content Creator’s Creed’ is that we believe sharing your wisdom through story is your best legacy. Everybody starts a business for a different reason. It’s usually some variation of wanting to make a name, wanting to make money, or wanting to make a difference. Our advice to a company that’s looking to create content is do it in a way that’s going to establish your legacy. And the best way to do that…to share that wisdom, is through story-telling.

If you just want to make money, Shortcut Content and blogging in an authentic way may not even be the best strategy. I don’t really want to read the story of somebody that just wants to make money, although that may just be me. There are plenty of people out there that want to make a buck and we see that all the time. There are all kinds of internet marketing gurus that talk about making a big pile of money. If you can relay that your legacy is that you want to help somebody make a big pile of money, then more power to you.

We typically aren’t going to help with that just because there’s not a lot of story there. But if you’re trying to make a name for yourself and what you’re doing, or you’re trying to make a difference, we can help. For a small business owner, leaving a legacy could just mean leaving a company that your children can survive on or make a good living. When you pass down your wisdom through story-telling, those are the kinds of things that stick around.

When I was in college I did an internship at IBM. IBM was purchased in its early days by Thomas Watson Sr. who ran it through the fifties and then Thomas Watson Jr. took over. When I was there, a decade after Watson Jr., the stories about those two were still being told person to person. This wasn’t anything that was written down, but when you went to work for them, you heard stories over lunch. I think that’s probably still at the core of what IBM is today. They’ve changed a lot since the eighties, but that legacy still exists.

Steve Jobs said that he wanted to make a dent in the world. And although he’s been gone for a few years now, his legacy is still echoing in the halls of Apple. His DNA is still very much embedded in the core of the company. Lululemon is another company that uses its story to train its employees to do something other than sell clothing. By telling their story and the founder’s ‘why’, they make their customers feel like a part of a community and create that bond.

Tell your story and create that legacy by producing authentic content. Shortcut Content can help you create those stories, whether you’re going to aim them inside the company or aim them at the public. We’ve worked with people who have created content with us that have no intention of sharing it with the public. Content that’s just being shared within their organization is how they are establishing their legacy on the inside.


I’ve written a post about each line of the Creed. If you’d like to see them, just click on the links below:

We believe…

…the best content comes from individuals rather than organizations

…your work’s meaning and your company’s purpose are best shared through a human voice of storytelling

…communication derived from story transcends communication derived from product features

readers deserve first-hand stories from experienced experts

stories are best shared by experts who have lived to tell the tale rather than vicariously through writers and researchers

…the strength of your company rests in the personalities of your leaders

…sharing your wisdom through story is your best legacy

And the BEST way to write your story is whatever method gets the job done.