In very short order, the BRAND is the thing, rather than the thing itself. Or the person herself: Susan Komen, for example, was a woman. Now Komen is a brand which has- like cancer--- taken on a life of its own, arguably a life distanced from its origins in the thing (curing breast cancer) itself, and the mortal, beloved, sacred person.
This monthly column is a portable version of what I prefer to create with people in person and through time: communities gathered around our human capacity to write and speak things into existence, AND to be good stewards of those things, lest they go zombie. A zombie organization, (or political candidate, or business/ nonprofit leader) is one which does not operate internally in alignment with its public face, or brand.
Most do not go zombie on purpose, but because the pressure to get bigger and more efficient (for a good cause, don’t you know) completely crowds out the value of poetic qualities and tools---and the kind of leaders with the capacity to use them.
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| Mary speaking at TEDx, 2011 |
There's even a try-it at the end. Happy Poetry Month.
