The Soul of the Business

Something I often hear mirrored back to me is how my software business Simplero has a very deep and warm and resonant branding, especially for a software company. You read the copy, and you can really tell there's someone there. You can relate to it.

That's no accident. I believe companies have a soul, just like we humans do. Its soul is in relationship with ours, the founders, but it's also separate. It is its own entity that we can feel and relate to.

The job of branding is to expose that soul. No more, no less. We want to let the world see that soul.

That's why when companies are so removed from their soul (and when that's the case, the founders or leaders will be removed from their souls too), you can't do branding.

Remember when Microsoft made these ads with Gates and Seinfeld?

Yeah, they didn't work. They were just weird.

Try this exercise: Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take a couple of easy breaths.

Then think back to the moment you came up with the idea for your company. The moment inspiration hit.

See if you can senes how that inspiration felt. What did it look like? What color, what temperature? Anything that helps give it texture and depth, however that shows up for you.

Connect with it through your heart and intuition, and then ask it: What is its essence? What does it most want to become? How does it need you to show up to serve it?

You'd be surprised what might show up.

I did this with a bunch of Swedish MBAs, and after a few minutes they were all in tears, that's how clearly they felt what it was about, and how much they realized they'd been removed from that vision.

Tell me what you find.