Your Heritage Story is Your Business

As a business leader, owner or top-level executive, you know that your business's culture is key to its success.

You know that the people who make up your organization are just as important as the products and services it offers.

And yet you may not realize that your heritage story — the one about how you got started in business — is a crucial part of this equation.

Your heritage story provides an opportunity to explore the values that unite your organization; it gives insight into who works at your company and why; and it helps potential employees understand what makes working there so special.

Your heritage story is the story of your business.

Your heritage story is the story of your business.

A heritage story differs from a mission statement in that it:

• Paints a vivid picture with characters, conflict and resolution.

• Tells how you came to be here today and the obstacles you overcame.

• Reflects on where you’re going next.

Your heritage story showcases the values that unite your organization.

Your heritage story is your business. Your business is based on your values, which are the things that matter most to you and what you stand for.

Values are encapsulated in who you hire, how you treat customers and in every single decision made by your organization.

The best leaders can tell the story of their company's heritage because they know its values and will use them as a guide when making decisions or talking about what makes their company special.

If you're lucky, your family has a history rich with stories about family members who were pioneers or heroes in their fields—and all those stories contain valuable lessons about how to live life with integrity and purpose. If nothing else, this kind of past can give us hope that we'll be remembered long after our time on earth ends. It is no different with your business’ heritage story.

Your heritage story helps you find and hire people with similar values.

Again, your heritage story is the story of your business, and it will help you create a workplace culture that's as unique as your brand.

Your heritage story is the story of your company’s culture, and it will help you attract candidates who share similar values.

Your heritage story is the story of your company’s values, and it will help people understand what you stand for at work.

Your heritage story is the story of why you started doing what you do today, which may be different from how other companies go about their business.

Your culture is key to your success, and it's reflected in your heritage story.

The concept of culture is a difficult one to define. It can be your company's defining characteristic, or it can be something that remains an afterthought.

But I would argue that every business has a culture — every single one of them, and it's as important to your success as the products and services you sell.

Your culture is reflected in the way you treat your employees, vendors and customers.

If those three groups feel like they're part of something special, they'll put their best foot forward when working on behalf of your brand.

They'll become ambassadors who spread positive word-of-mouth about what makes you different from other companies in your industry; they'll also have more pride in their work than if they were merely cogs in a machine (or "numbers," as some call them).

And this positive mindset will influence how others perceive you.

Your employees' attitude directly affects whether customers will buy from them again!

So your heritage story is key to your success.

It’s the most effective way to connect with customers and employees, and it helps you build an authentic brand.

If you want to be successful in today’s competitive marketplace, there’s no way around telling your story and telling it well.

Watch this YouTube video here to learn more about sharing your heritage story when you’re onboarding new employees!