The Brand Strategist's Mindscape episode 1: Phenomenology

My ears were still ringing with blasphemy as my professor tried to calm my outraged classmates

He was already something of an anomaly in our conservative religious university.

For starters, he held a phD even though he was barely out of his 20s.

He was more likely to recite Shakespeare, Nietzsche, or Morrissey than the Bible.

And he behaved like your favorite, mischievous big brother with a cunning mind rather than a bastion of piety and decorum.

Every time the group of us entered his classroom, we braced ourselves to witness the slaughter of yet another of the sacred cows of our faith.

But the truth I had just heard him drop was the most disturbing and most transformational concept I've ever heard:

“The Holy One is simultaneously attractive…and repulsive.”

This is a fundamental component of the phenomenology of religion.

But for the sheltered 18 and 19 year olds who sat through that lecture with me, this idea was deeply offensive. It was akin to blasphemy as far as we knew.

How could G-d, the source of all goodness, be repulsive?

Over the past 20 years, that uncomfortable truth did sink in, and it’s one I’ve bought into wholeheartedly.

And I’m sharing it with you because what’s true about the Divine is also true about brands.

Your audience should have a visceral and polarizing experience with your brand.

If your audience is neutral about you, you’ve got work to do if you want to avoid fading into obscurity.

So if your goal is to forge a deep and profitable connection with people so that you can make a lasting impact on their lives and take your business to the next level, you must embrace duality.

I’ll show you how to begin in the next installment.