Reading Time: 8 minutes Stories Incorporated co-founder Scott Thompson on how taking the long view helped build 10 years of growth for the employer branding content company. In September 2022, Stories Inc. will celebrate its 10-year anniversary. And while it feels like just yesterday that Lauryn and I decided
Reading Time: 6 minutes Stories Inc. cofounder Scott Thompson shares why employee stories and investor communications go hand-in-hand. Every year at around this time, I keep an eye out for Jeff Bezos’ annual letter to Amazon shareholders. It’s always packed with great takeaways. One thing that stuck out to
Reading Time: 4 minutes Scott Thompson, co-founder of Stories Inc., invites us to see that our employee stories are content assets. Creating something with lasting value from scratch can be difficult, whether it’s a piece of art, a book, a film, or, yes, even a piece of employer brand
Reading Time: 4 minutes Stories Inc. co-founder Scott Thompson explains why non-cookie-cutter mission statements and culture content help candidates self-select into or out of your unique company mission. I heard a podcast interview with Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic and creator of WordPress, and I loved his take on
Reading Time: 5 minutes Stitch Fix’s early focus on creating value for all stakeholders, especially its vendor partners, benefitted Stitch Fix in a very tangible way when the pandemic hit. For CEO Katrina Lake, it’s one of many examples that validates her belief that stakeholder value is shareholder value.
Reading Time: 6 minutes In case you hadn’t yet read enough about the Gamestop drama, I wanted to focus on one aspect of the story: its lesson on the importance for companies to align everything with mission. Last week, Robinhood had to temporarily limit trading of Gamestop and other
Reading Time: 4 minutes Under Hammurabi’s Code in ancient Mesopotamia, if a house caved in and killed its inhabitants, then the builder of that house would face the death penalty. It’s a pretty harsh thought, but you can’t deny that it probably did a good job of incentivizing home
Reading Time: 7 minutes Scott Thompson shares the impact of Tony Hsieh on modern business, customer interactions, and Stories Inc. And, he honors Hsieh’s memory. I was shocked and saddened to hear that Tony Hsieh passed away at the age of 46 this past weekend. Hsieh has always been
Reading Time: 6 minutes In this post, I take inspiration from a 1957 sketch by Walt Disney. This sketch illustrates what Disney can teach us about how content should work within an organization. I came across this Walt Disney sketch from 1957: I thought it was a really cool
Reading Time: 8 minutes Stories Inc. co-founder Scott uses Coinbase’s new policy on workplace activism and politics to examine the importance of aligning all aspects of an employer brand—from mission to brand messages to cultural norms. In a recent blog post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced that in an
Reading Time: 10 minutes Inspired by Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game and King Arthur Flour’s Covid-19 response, Stories Inc. co-founder and partner Scott Thompson examines leading with an infinite mindset. With many people turning to baking as a source of comfort during the Covid-19 lockdown, King Arthur Flour flew
Reading Time: 7 minutes Tobi Lutke, Shopify’s founder and CEO, is one of my favorite business leaders and thinkers. The following story (which I’m paraphrasing from his interview on the Knowledge Project podcast in 2018), is incredibly timely given Shopify’s announcement today. These instances illustrate the relationship between leadership