The Substance Revolution
Why quality trumps quantity in everything we do.
The wake-up call
"I don't like our social media."
Six words from my CEO that sent a hot flush across my face and ignited a professional revelation I never saw coming.
I was confused at first. The numbers told a different story:
Reach: Surpassed Q1 goal by 8%
Engagements: Outperformed goal by 390%
Follower Growth: Exceeded target by 90%
Traffic: Fell short by just 3 points, but still strong
By all conventional metrics, we were succeeding. When I joined, our accounts had been stagnant for months. I implemented my FIREE framework (Fun, Inspiring, Relatable, Educational, Entertaining), and the metrics responded beautifully.
But my CEO's assessment cut through the vanity of numbers with a single word: substance.
Our content lacked substance.
The metrics mirage
The revelation hit me like a thunderbolt. We were simply feeding the doomscrolling machine, generating empty calories for minds already overstuffed with meaningless content.
We were getting views. We were accumulating followers. But we weren't creating value. We weren't improving people's lives in any meaningful way.
Instead, we were just another dopamine merchant, selling quick hits of empty engagement.
Deconstructing value creation
When I stepped back to examine this problem, I realized that rather than building upon the conventional wisdom of social media marketing, I needed to break down our purpose to its most fundamental elements.
What are the irreducible truths upon which everything else is built?
For communication, those principles are:
To transmit information that helps someone solve a problem
To create connection through shared understanding
To inspire action that leads to positive change
Everything else: likes, shares, follows… are derivatives. They are proxies for these fundamental goals, not the goals themselves.
In our quest to optimize for these derivatives, we had lost sight of the elemental purpose of our work. We were no longer asking, "How does this content solve a genuine problem for our audience?" but rather, "How can we get more engagement?"
What substance looks like in practice
Substance isn't abstract. It's tangible and demonstrable.
Here's how it will look like in our social media context:
Instead of talking to people, we will show how people can solve unique challenges, complete with the exact steps they need to take.
Instead of jumping on trending topics for visibility, we will create guides showing how to solve the most common pain points our research has identified in our community.
Instead of broadcasting promotional messages, we will facilitate conversations around industry challenges and crowdsource solutions from our customers, positioning our brand as a valuable connector rather than just a seller.
How we do this, whether through mini-docuseries, explainer animations or podcasts it’s less important right now. It’s the substance what we will care about first.
The difference I want to achieve: fewer posts, deeper engagement, and most importantly, actual results for the people interacting with our content.
The tragic realization
After this epiphany about our social media, I critically examined all my other work through this new lens of substance.
It was bad.
The social media was not an isolated case. My own progress work, the projects I'd been pouring hours into, the initiatives I'd been championing… they were all suffering from the same fundamental flaw. They looked good on paper. They checked boxes. They showed activity.
But were they substantial? Were they creating genuine, lasting value?
The answer hit me like a physical blow: No. Not nearly enough.
This wasn't just about social media metrics anymore. This was about my entire approach to work and, by extension, my professional identity. I had become skilled at generating motion without creating momentum. At producing without fostering connection. At delivering projects without driving impact.
The realization was tragic, but necessary.
Because now I couldn't unsee it. And what you can see clearly, you can change decisively.
The substance assessment framework
To ensure I never fall back into the quantity-over-quality trap, I've developed a simple framework to evaluate everything I do:
Problem clarity: Does this work address a real, specific problem that someone is experiencing?
Solution efficacy: Does it provide a clear, actionable path to solving that problem?
Impact measurement: Can I measure the actual improvement in someone's condition, not just their interaction with the solution?
Uniqueness test: Does this offer something that cannot be readily found elsewhere?
Persistence check: Will the value of this work persist beyond the immediate interaction?
If the answer to any of these questions is "no," the work lacks substance and needs to be reconsidered.
Balancing business reality with substance
Some might argue that metrics still matter, and they do! But they must be the right metrics. Vanity metrics like reach and impressions should be secondary to impact metrics like:
Problem resolution rate
Knowledge application percentage
Customer capability improvement
Tangible outcome achievement
These metrics are harder to track but infinitely more valuable. And remarkably, when you focus on these substance metrics, the vanity metrics often follow naturally, but now they're a byproduct of real value, not empty engagement.
The liberation of focus
There's profound liberation in this substance-first mindset. Instead of dispersing energy across countless initiatives, you focus intensely on creating depth in whatever you touch.
Rather than overthinking the end result, you concentrate on the next meaningful step that moves someone forward. You stop asking, "How much can I produce?" and start asking, "How much can I improve?"
This shift eliminates the paralysis that comes from attempting to perfect everything. Instead, you simply ask: "What one substantial action can I take right now?" Then you take it, evaluate it, and take the next.
The ongoing revolution
Embracing substance is not a one-time decision but an ongoing practice. I still catch myself slipping into old patterns: chasing metrics, producing volume, optimizing for appearance rather than impact.
When this happens, I return to my fundamental question: "Will this leave someone or something better than they were before?"
This simple filter has transformed not just our social media and my work projects, but my approach to every professional interaction.
Your substance revolution starts now
I challenge you to examine your own work, all of it, through the lens of substance:
Identify one piece of work you're currently producing that has high visibility but questionable impact.
Apply the Substance Assessment Framework to it honestly.
Redesign it with substance as the primary goal, even if that means fewer deliverables or less immediate recognition.
Measure the difference not in engagement, but in actual value created.
The world doesn't need more stuff. It needs more substance. It needs more value. It needs your best work, not your most work.
I've made my commitment to substance.
Today, I choose impact over appearance, depth over breadth, value over volume.
What will you choose?