The Big Picture:
Children’s publishing company Highlights is best known for their eponymous “fun with a purpose” magazine. They’re a family business that has been around a long, long time. But leading with legacy was holding back the story of what they’re doing for the world’s children today – and tomorrow.
Working with Storyforge to forge a more meaningful story – and getting everyone on the same page with it – has shaped culture, fostered alignment, unlocked strategic growth opportunities and accelerated impact.
“We don’t view our meaningful story as a PR effort. We don’t view it as a marketing effort. We don’t view it as a product effort. It has to really become the DNA of who we are and how we behave.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
The Challenge:
Family businesses like Highlights come with a lot of strengths, and often have a headstart on foundational work of storytelling. However, Highlights found themselves overly focused on their internal narrative, rather than why it mattered for the world at large.
“Family businesses do tend to look internal. We have a founder’s story and are centered on the family. [But] if we lead with a story about history or a story about us, whoever we’re talking to – whether it’s an employee today, a prospective employee, a customer, somebody on the street – we haven’t done the work of saying, well, why should they care?” – Kent Johnson, CEO
Over the decades Highlights had been in business, they had invested countless hours defining their editorial vision. The extensive documentation this generated gave the impression that, perhaps, the work had already been done.
“We’re a publishing company. We wrote down every value we ever had. In fact, I think you looked at it, Haley, and you said, My gosh, there’s so much content here. And I said, Yeah, here’s 500 pages. See if you can add any value to that.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
Despite – or perhaps in part due to – their extensive documentation, Highlights found themselves at a loss for words. They knew they had the potential to tell a more compelling, meaningful story, but knew the needed an outsider’s perspective to find it.
“We didn’t know how to look at [our work] through the eyes of how it affected the outside world. We had a very stark awakening that we don’t convey that message in an effective way to our customer base.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
Highlights needed to get to the core of who they wanted to be in the world, and from the insights they gained along the way, create a clear and compelling story to inspire their team, unite their partners and unlock opportunities.
After Working with Storyforge:
Storyforge worked with Highlights to crystallize its meaningful story. This meant first setting aside what they thought they already knew. Gathering deep stakeholder insights gave them clarity on their bigger (yet simpler!) meaningful story.
“We checked the ego. We left it at the door and said, maybe we’re talking to ourselves. [Storyforge] helped create insights that, even with our history, with our mission groundedness, we said, Hey, wait a minute, our story can be even more compelling. – Julie Beckman, CHRO
What Highlights needed wasn’t a total rewrite of its business, but rather a laser-sharp focus on its heart. This shift in perspective changed everything.
“It really wasn’t about adding, it was about subtracting, it was about synthesizing, it was about extracting, it was about shifting the frame of reference by 45 degrees. And I would say to my earlier self, don’t underestimate the potential power of that shift in frame of reference if you and others are willing to really buy in.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
Highlights now uses their meaningful story as a universal decision-making filter. Designing their hiring, onboarding, and retention processes around their story has expanded the “family” business to include everyone who forms part of Highlights.
“Storyforge has been a huge help, that we’re creating a set of values and a vision that isn’t restricted to the DNA of the owners. We are inviting everyone who’s part of our company into this set of beliefs. And we talk about a ‘work family’ because a family can have a shared common set of beliefs that everyone buys into.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
Highlights now uses their meaningful story as a universal decision-making filter. Designing their hiring, onboarding, and retention processes around their story has expanded the “family” business to include everyone who forms part of Highlights.
“Storyforge has been a huge help, that we’re creating a set of values and a vision that isn’t restricted to the DNA of the owners. We are inviting everyone who’s part of our company into this set of beliefs. And we talk about a ‘work family’ because a family can have a shared common set of beliefs that everyone buys into.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
As Highlights aligned behind its meaningful story, the results – and impact – expended beyond the “work family” and into the wider world:
Highlights created a partnership with Google Foundation, stemming from a shared dedication to do more for children trying to broker a rapidly changing world around technology, and resulting in 1.3 million copies of a special issue of Highlights Magazine published with Google
“We didn’t lead with, hey, Google, we’re a magazine company. Let’s do a magazine together. So there’s no way that partnership – and that positive impact on kids – would come if we just conceptualized ourselves as a product-based company. So I think [our meaningful story] changes conversations … allows us to open different ways to work with people. It certainly opens our own minds to what’s possible in our business.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
Highlights is a company with different brands, including an education company under the brand Zaner-Bloser, selling directly to schools since 1972. With all leaders across the Highlights family of businesses on the same page, having a unified conversation about purpose and vision for the world, unlocked an opportunity to create an entirely company: Highlights-branded but relying on the deep early childhood curriculum skills and expertise of Zaner Bloser.
“This [new company] came directly out of leading with who we are and our vision for the world rather than leading with what we do. I’m most excited when that story is clearly guiding the decisions we make on what businesses to build, how to invest, how to talk to partners and humans and each other about what we are in this world. – Kent Johnson, CEO
Go Deeper: on Storyforge’s Impact
On stability: “In an otherwise really volatile world, internal, external, macro, micro implications, our climate and culture continues to be stable and healthy. And again, that’s not without things that we don’t need to work on, but I attribute the stability and the health in an otherwise pretty rocky environment to some of the work that we’ve done with you.” – Julie Beckman, CHRO
On story as a decision-making filter: “I’m most excited when that story is clearly guiding the decisions we make on what businesses to build, how to invest, how to talk to partners and humans and each other about what we are in this world.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
On hiring: “There’s so much value in us being able to clearly articulate who we are and how we want to be in the world when it comes to things like sourcing and recruiting the employees that we would like to invite into our community.” – Julie Beckman, CHRO
On meaningful work: “We really want to select people who want to be part of this vision and have that the positive energy of being part of that vision gives them more resilience, gives them more emotional satisfaction when we’re at the end of a week or at the end of a tough day. Because it can be hard, but when we win, we’re not just celebrating dollars. We’re celebrating making a difference in kids’ lives.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
On authenticity: “What I appreciate about this work is the simplicity and the authenticity of the story. Because my experience is, the more authentic the story is, the easier it is for people to find themselves in the story.” – Julie Beckman, CHRO
On risk management: “We use understanding who we are as the basis for how we decide to take risks or not take risks, to add to a conversation or not add to a conversation. We didn’t set out thinking that was why we were working with [Storyforge], but I’ve been in a car headed to what could be a very contentious interview and had a counselor on the phone saying: Kent, you know your meaningful story. It is about the kids.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
On Working with Storyforge:
“I think if people are thinking about working with you, they need to open their mind. There’s lots of different befores and afters. It’s not cookie cutter. There are different ways things can move forward and it’s always customized to the needs and the current place of the business.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
“If you think your story’s that clear without this kind of support, you’re probably talking to yourself.” – Julie Beckman, CHRO
“This is not something that should live in your PR department, your marketing department. It’s got to live in your human department.” – Kent Johnson, CEO
For more on Highlights for Children, and to listen to the full interview with Highlights for Children CEO Kent Johnson and CHRO Julie Beckman, visit the Storyforge YouTube Channel. To learn more about how Storyforge can help you forge your meaningful story and get everyone and everything in your business on the same page, visit our website to get in touch.
