Pierre du Plessis — Nobody wants to join your stupid corporate story

Highlights from the conversation:It's these little rituals in organisations that can often create a culture, and culture can often drive the behaviour and the success or failure of an organisation.The more shared meaning you build an organisation, the stronger your culture is.One of the most important things you can do is become part of somebody else's story.That's one of my big pet peeves with organisations — they keep trying to get customers to join their story.If you don't have a safe space where you can muck up and get it wrong, then you're never going to learn. So that's this idea of a community of practice where there's a safe space, where you can try stuff; if you don't get it right or if you fail, you can just get up, dust yourself off and go and try again.When we're building brands for people, words are important and language is important. So picking the right words for your brand, your community, and your people has meaning and importance.When a community is healthy it will grow. So don't care about the growth, care about the health.It's being clear, being very specific — who this is for and who this is not for — and not forcing growth, not forcing expansion at all costs. More about Pierre In a chaotic world, Pierre du Plessis helps people build meaningful lives and do work that matters. He is the founder of Palaestra, a community of practice where people train together to become better human beings.He is also an educator at DUKE CE University and has spoken all over the world with clients that include BMW, KFC, Adcock Ingram, FNB, and Nedbank. Pierre is no stranger to TEDx stages, having spoken on them numerous times.He has worked in fashion, advertising, trend analysis, and branding. Pierre leads a contemplative community of faith in the heart of Cape Town, is a published author and has received the Desmond Tutu Gerrit Brand literature prize.He believes he is the love child of Gertrude Stein and Jason Bourne, and that he has latent telekinetic powers.He lives in Cape Town with his wife, two kids, and his iPhone. Find Pierre here:LinkedInFacebookYouTubeTwitterMore about PalaestraMore about Train Naked Show NotesPeople:Conrad HicksLeonard SweetSeth GodinMiscellaneous:Tribes (book) by Seth GodinSnaskMake enemies and gain fans (book) How can you help?There are four ways you can help us out.Give us your thoughts. Rate the podcast and leave a comment.Share this as far and wide as you can - tell your friends, family and colleagues about us (caveat: if you own a family business, these may all be the same people)Tell us how we can create a better podcast - tell us what you liked, didn’t like, or what you’d like to hear more (or less) ofTell us who you’d like to hear on the podcast. Suggest someone that you think we should interview.One More Question is a podcast by Nicework a Brand and Service Design Company. One of the things we do best is asking our clients the right questions. This podcast came about because we want to share some of the best answers we have heard over the last 13 years. We talk to significant creators, experts and communicators who we have encountered. To share the useful insights, inspirations and facts that made us stop and take notes as we go about our work. Hosted by our Founder Ross Drakes.Subscribe iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google PodcastsMusic by: @dcuttermusic / http://www.davidcuttermusic.com To listen to previous episodes go to https://nwrk.co/omq.If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and share it with your friends.