WE HAVE LOST THE UNDERSTANDING THAT WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.
When I was eight years old I had to prepare a speech for my class and my first subject was (not surprisingly) “Indians of North-America”. The second, “The Amazon: Lungs of the earth”.
I have just turned 50. In the space of 42 years we’ve lost almost 20% of the Amazon rain forest, approximately half of the world’s tropical forests and more then 50% of our species worldwide.
The Amazon Indian tribes are being driven off or killed for the sake of drilling oil and we face enormous global economic, ecological and social challenges. You have probably seen (and are tired of) all the doom and gloom. I know I am which is why I would rather try and do something to help.
Going back to my childhood, you probably expected me to end up being a conservationist or philosopher. I didn’t – I became instead an advertising man.
After twenty years of working with great brands like Apple, Audi, Nike, Domino’s Pizza, Dockers and Heineken, we started working for one of the smallest brands (Ecover) and I fell in love with their passionate drive to reduce environmental impact of their own cleaning products.
They took me along to a meeting of the Social Venture Network, where I met the gardener of the estate, an elder Indian chief who opened my eyes and heart during a lengthy and engaging conversation about his perspective on life, nature and the interconnnectivity of the whole.
This conversation led me to step away from my own company in the end and steer the talent I was given towards helping brands that aim for a positive side-effect of their commercial operation.
I’m convinced that disconnection is the source of most of the challenges we face right now. Over the past century we have lost the understanding that we are all connected in this web of life. We think of ourselves far too frequently as individuals, separated from one another and from nature. The more ‘developed’ we have become, the more we have alienated ourselves from our connections by inventing models, systems and spreadsheets. The earth has become a mine; people are degraded to target groups or employee status and animals are industrial resources. The more disconnected we are, the more we cry for connection, for true relationships, for integrity and meaning. We want to relate to nature, to each other, to the products we buy and the companies we work for and buy from.
Companies and brands play a crucial role in reconnecting things because they have huge impact. We need to start applying all of our creative abilities, within our respective roles, in order to grow and accelerate towards a vital economy that lives in harmony with a healthy planet and all its inhabitants. We should do shit that matters.
Great branding is not about crafting an image, it’s about sharing the company’s soul. I didn’t learn that wise lesson from a guru, I learned it from Phil Knight, the founder of Nike.
We should connect the companies we work for to their souls and then start sharing that soul, with jaw-dropping, life-changing, attractive kick-ass ideas.
I am, because of you.
By Dr David North