Because creating content requires such an investment of energy and even a little piece of our souls, we tend to overvalue it. Creative content can stir you, it can bring meaning to your life, it can give you solace. But at the end of the day, any particular piece of content is replaceable for nearly everyone except the creator. For every genius piece of work we consume, there is another. This difficult truth should inform the way we structure business models around open content. There has to be more to the puzzle than good quality content.

Those other pieces of the puzzle should be motivated by what we all know to be true about human behavior. Ultimately, it comes down to common sense. Rather than rewriting the rules of conduct when we think about how we function in the marketplace, we would do well to resort to the tried-and-true principles about what it means to be a good and likable human being, how we make and sustain human connections, and how we give our lives meaning.

Once we apply those rules to the way we operate in the market, we’ll start to see where and how we can provide real value.

Sarah Hinchliff Pearson.