“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

- C.S. Lewis

Ok, so maybe we are half-hearted and are too easily pleased, but we come by it honestly. Marketers are spending billions to get us to spend our thousands. Tyler Durden in “Fight Club” says:

“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy $#*! we don't need.”

Probably the greatest "aha" I have found in becoming a certified Storybrand guide is that the best marketers are trying to sell us an aspirational identity. Watch an Old Spice, Apple, or even a Viagara advertisement and it is pretty unmistakable. They are selling the idea that things (well, “us” really) can be different.

Ultimately, they are selling us on a better version of ourselves. So is Hollywood, by the way. If they can get us to align our desire to make a difference with what the superhero is doing on the screen, we will buy a ticket. Interestingly enough, the diversion that some people think they are buying when they go to a movie is something actually far larger. We may not just be escaping our life for a few hours, but imagining a better version of life altogether.

Christianity is making the same offer, by the way. There is a different, better, and more true way for you to live. Things are not as they are supposed to be and neither are you. More was intended for our lives than we have realized.

We ARE too easily pleased.

This is where it gets really sticky. You can offer changed life as a deliverable and the motive will completely dictate whether or not it is selfish or holy. The little church on the corner and a huckster televangelist are offering a similar Jesus and changed life, but the underlying motive behind each determines everything.

The thing I love most about our work with leaders in our Corporate Coaching, at our Executive Board experience, or in our Group LifePlans, is that we are offering an aspirational identity. I have spent the better part of the last 15 years trying to convince people that their lives, their marriages, and the companies they lead are intended for something far grander than they have realized.

From thorough and thoughtful processes, a clear picture of a better life and a better organizational future emerges.
Conviction comes from the incontrovertible nature of the future we craft together.
And finally, our coaching, processes, and roadmap we offer, give them the courage of their convictions…and the high probability of realization.

THIS IS THE GOLD WE ARE DIGGING FOR IN EVERY COACHING CONVERSATION OR CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT.

If you really want to succeed in business in this very crowded and noisy marketplace, you better be offering an aspirational identity to your prospective customers. If you are not completely clear on that idea for your company, I can help with that. Storybrand is changing the way the world markets. It is a way to help the good guys win.

But what I am most interested in is helping you find your own aspirational identity…the life you were intended to live and the place in the advancing of the Kingdom your company was intended to play. That is what we do.

Join us on the trail. The air is thinner and there are far fewer people on this one, but the views are spectacular. A client recently told us:

“If you had told me ten years ago that running a company could be this much fun, I would never have believed you!”

Are you living the life you were intended to live?
Is your business being received by the marketplace the way you desire?
Are you clear on what aspirational identity your company should be offering?
Are you clear on the aspirational identity for your own life or your business? (Check out Lifeplan or our Corporate Coaching.)