Stories Which Last Are Rooted In Place.

I met Rebin on an early December evening. His quiet, kind demeanor inviting conversation like a warm, glowing fire; a stark contrast to the bustle and bluster of a Christmas drinks.

He has lived here for close to 20 years. He came to study: firstly a Masters then a PHD. In between, he makes lavash, a warm, buttery, ancient flatbread; a gift of his hands, borne of a place he and 20m others call home.

The pull of place runs deep. It transcends borders. It is home to language, traditions, food, ideas, people, friends, family. This is culture: ideas and story, rooted in place. The deeper they run, the stronger they pull.

Big companies make a mockery of culture. A veneer of words bonding people to ideas lacking depth or meaning or purpose or usefulness. A sticking plaster, devoid of place, of history.

The ideas and organisations which will positively shape the coming century will be, must be, rooted in place. And this starts with you; with your little place, the small corner where your roots fix. A counterweight to the frenzy, the pull of the portal in your pocket, taking you everywhere and leaving you nowhere.

Grow your company, your ideas, your mission, from the ground up; the deeper you go, the slower it burns, the richer the story will be. Learn from the ideas, traditions and stories which have stood the test of time. Be less Nestle or Meta. Marinade instead in the ancient, the timeless, in stories rooted in place.

And share it over flatbread, in the company of friends thousands of years in the making.

#stories

#culture

#companies