Headless Brands

But what are brands, exactly? Brands are, by intention and design, manufactured meaning. They are differentiated by symbols that telegraph beliefs. We use these symbols to communicate our allegiances and then use all sorts of made-up things—religious marks, national flags, family crests, wedding rings, campaign buttons, baseball hats and running sh... See more

We are moving from an era of centralized, bureaucratic value creation firms to an era of decentralized, permissionless value creation networks. As organizational models change, so too will the intangible cultural artifacts created by these new institutional forms. Brands, narratives, memes—we now choose our own headless gods.

A brand is not an object. It’s not something you can simply define in words or pictures, put away and take out to reference every so often. A true brand is a living thing—like a person. A fusion of motivations and beliefs, personality and purpose, appearance and actions, that continually defines and reveals itself through every interaction and poin... See more

When a person aspires to be a brand, they forfeit everything that is truly glorious about being human. Building any brand requires consensus. When we position ourselves as a brand, we are forced to project an image of what we believe most people will approve of and admire and buy into. The moment we cater our creativity to popular opinion is the pr

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