THE BIG “AH, HA!” Of MEANING MAKING
“All that exists radiated from its Meaning and Truth.” — David Hawkins, MD, PhD, Author, Researcher
If there is one thing that will define the future, it is The Big Aha! Of Meaning Making.
Meaning-making drives innovation, market success, happiness, and fulfillment.
The lack of Meaning ensures the opposite.
The video seen here above is a part of our “Father & Son Seaside Chats”.
We discuss how meaning runs through all aspects of life and our endeavors. (Run time 34 Minutes) In our next newsletter, “Meaning Making Part 2” video, we discuss the application of meaning.
Dan’s Story:
I once had a life-changing experience in the mountains of Canada that shook my previous frame of reality and caused me to reconsider my approach to my life and work.
It opened my eyes to finding a deeper meaning in my work through Regeneration…of people, organizations, and planet. After this meaning-making experience, I made a major commitment to regeneration and helped develop several life-enriching non-profits, as well as working with organizations in all sectors on regenerative change. I made the deeper meaning of regeneration a centering focus in my consulting business. Finally, I reframed our company's purpose to “Creating Value and Enriching Life”.
To me, meaning is always personal first, and then it plays out through what you do and contribute to life.
If you want to read a great story of how discovering new meaning changed the life of our friend David Leventhal, when he left Silicon Valley High Tech to bring new meaning to thousands of others through his regenerative enterprise in Mexico, read our blog, “A Story of Transformation—Self and the World”.
Recently, we published a new book…Future Shaping: 15 Keys to Standout Success.
The 15 Keys articulate the various ways a brand, a business, or a person contributes positive meaning to our world.
Success is an outcome of that contribution of meaning.
The world is driving business and brands to be Meaning Makers:
“The traditional sources of competitive advantage are losing ground. Scarcity, differentiation, proprietary technology: these used to offer protection. Today, they’re commoditized. AI can reproduce your UX. Startups can replicate your model in weeks. Even your strategy can feel like a downloadable template.” —Davide Ritorto
The one thing that will show what you stand for and enable you to stand out is the meaning you bring to people’s lives and how it creates value in the market.
AI and the search for purpose and meaning:
“Three hundred futurists predicted "daunting challenges ahead for maintaining a coherent sense of self, with human-synth experiences becoming as important as human-to-human connections.
We will feel less important, especially as the job landscape changes and AI overtakes many job functions, departmental activities, and corporate functions.”
—Mark Schaefer
In other words, we will have to help people see a new role and meaning in their work and creative contributions.
People Crave Meaning:
People especially look for sense-making and meaning when the ground beneath their feet is shifting and the world around them feels out of control.
We are thirsting for meaning in a world awash with a tsunami of data, information, and overly massaged messages. We’re tired of the superficial products and the emptiness of fake brand promises.
People crave substance, authenticity, and meaning. And meaning is not just what you derive from something, it is how you drive that something.
Meaning is the “Maker”:
The meaning tells us what is important to make.
It is the meaning behind something that creates “The Big Ah, Ha!”… that moment you “get it” and it deeply resonates with you.
When we say people are thirsting for meaning, it’s because what they really want is missing from their lives. They…
Have a deep desire for purpose and connection.
Look for a transcendent meaning, beyond quotidian life.
Want to understand their role and place in the universe.
Recognize that meaning is essential to happiness and fulfillment.
Innately know that meaning is important to feeling fully alive, fully human.
Let’s explore the “The Big Ah, Ha!” of Meaning:
To make a significant connection, you must evoke three responses from people…
“Oh, Wow!”—Get attention with surprise or delight that engages their curiosity to find out more.
“Ah, Ha!”—Provide the meaning behind the surprise or delight, that connects to what your audience values and makes them think… “Ah, Ha! I see what this does for me and what it means to the life I want”.
“Hey, You!”—Excite the audience so much they are compelled to tell others about it.
The meaningful “Big Ah, Ha!” is an essential ingredient missing in many of today’s enterprises. It’s “Big“ when it carries an important/significant message of meaning that resonates for a long time.
In a company’s upward growth spiral toward greater impact and success, meaning significance is the “still point” when everything around it changes. It is the centering element that runs through all stages of organizational regenerative evolution.
Thoughts on creating The Big Ah, Ha! of Meaning Making:
1. Meaning must be Significant & Relevant… to both you and your audience. You feel it is significant when it aligns with your True North, your purpose, and values (what you hold most important). The same is true for your audience.
To understand this about your audience, you must see them in the context of the changing culture, the Zeitgeist. This means you need to zoom-out and see the cultural patterns and then zoom-in to connect to what is individually important to them as well, i.e., their values.
2. The Magic Trick of Meaning… is to shift from focusing primarily on functional problem-solving efficiency to reframing the challenge/opportunity that brings a totally new “Ah, Ha!” meaning. It is the new Ah, Ha! that defines new categories in the market.
Roberto Verganti’s TED talk told the story of reframing the meaning of candles from a lighting alternative to an important source of ambiance, coziness, and even the sacred in the home. This has accelerated the major growth of the candle industry in the last several years.
3. To Stand Out, you first have to Stand For something… something that is relevant and resonates strongly with your audience. This is your True North…purpose, values, and role in people’s lives. Taking the time to honestly express this in your products, services, and customer care is essential to standing out. After all there is no other YOU.
4. Innovation is most powerful when it delivers on a strong Meaning… not just a clever, new functionality. In other words, it shifts from utility (it works) to relevance (what it means to me, the role it plays in my life). Recently, we witnessed the head of innovation for a company being sent back to the drawing board when he presented a collection of functionally innovative new products that did not carry the meaning of the brand’s green, regeneration commitment.
As the quote from Dr. David Hawkins at the top of this article states… “All that exists radiates from its Meaning and Truth.” This means the starting place for innovation begins with framing the innovation brief to match the future purpose and meaning of the brand.
5. Meaning is impetus to Regeneration in organizations in two ways. First, there is regeneration of life around us, significantly adding more to the world than we extract out of our planet and society (we truly create value and enrich life). This means going beyond mere sustainability to enriching life. Second, there is regenerative growth of the organization itself over time, always staying relevant by continuous organizational regenerative evolution, often reshaping new business models that help shape the future era. This requires giving a surge of new meaning and vision to the organization.
6. Most of us want to lead a Meaningful Life… a life of personal agency, purpose, and making a difference, cultivating deep personal relationships and belonging…while learning to be more fully human through inner reflection, gratitude, and psychological/spiritual growth. Like all things worthwhile, this takes dedication, discipline and a deep love of what you do. A meaningful life is your reward.
7. A meaningful life journey is much like an Innovation Journey… Here is how I describe the Future Shaping Innovation Journey:
“It’s got to be fun as well as challenging, filled with unexpected surprises, demanding discipline and persistence, strewn with bumpy disappointments, and bursts of revealing insights from experiences that summon new abilities…ultimately producing significant results that create a profound sense of accomplishment, eliciting a hallelujah shout of “We did it!”
8. Meaning is essential to future Brand Building and Category Leadership. Every brand worth its salt must be True, Distinct, and Compelling to stand out…the essence of meaning flows through each of these to be effective. To win big as a brand means bending the market in your favor by creating a new category, one you define and infuse with a new meaning that others missed (e.g., iPhone was not just a new brand of phone, it was an extension of each person’s creativity and connection to the greater world [its meaning], coming in an aesthetic design form that reflected its owner’s choices).
9. Let Meaning Inform Your Design. Speaking of the iPhone, and beautifully designed Apple products—Sir Jony Ive, who led Apple’s design team throughout its heyday of creative design, shared in an interview how important the meaning behind design, the process, and creation was to the Apple mystique and appeal. The Apple approach was always based on elevating the experience for the customer, whether it was the product or the box it came in. At its basis was a sense of love and respect because he strongly felt that customers could always feel the care and meaning they infused into the standout Apple design.
More companies in all sectors would do well by taking this message to heart and let meaning shape their future of design in a world where meaning is often in short supply and its value becomes more precious and desired.
If you are considering how you can make your business, brand, or even yourself more desirable, take time to think about how you can create more Ah, Ha! Moments for others and bring more meaning to life.
Art into Meaning:
In our video above, we discuss how meaning is often cultivated through some level of struggle, openness, courage, and vulnerability, and it’s rewarded with a feeling of elation. Below is a poem for you that calls to all.
TRIUMPH
Painting by: Drew Beam | Poem by: Drew Beam
