The idea has resided in the back of my brain that a pearl is formed inside an oyster by the single intrusion of a grain of sand that has been transformed into a precious pearl. Never mind the need to study where these ideas come from, because it’s quite likely that it came from a Gary Larsen cartoon. But when I did a quick verification for myself, I found the actual origin of a pearl to be different than I held in my oh-so-confident Trivia Knowledge Bank. The pearls that we use for adornment actually have their humble beginning from the uninvited presence of an organic life form that gets trapped in the mollusk and as an irritant, and over time gets transformed into a perfect and beautiful pearl.
As much as I love the transformation metaphor that’s positively striking for we humans, my thought today is more about the origin of the pearl; the utterly organic origin of this valuable commodity. Not dead, but living.
The origin of our brand must begin with the most micro-level living truth about our business. (Preferably a unique truth.) Then we can develop a genuine conversation with our audience that is formed from that absolute and organic truth.
Which might be why I need to change the name of my little company to something “organic” — but that’s another topic.
