Carrie Melissa Jones - Building Brand Communities: How Organizations Succeed by Creating Belonging

BUILDING BRAND COMMUNITIES

ALSO BY CHARLES H. VOGL

The Art of Community: 7 Principles for Belonging
Storytelling for Leadership: Creating Authentic Connection

Building Brand Communities

Copyright 2020 by Carrie Melissa Jones and Charles H. Vogl
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
1333 Broadway, Suite 1000
Oakland, CA 94612-1921
Tel: (510) 817-2277, Fax: (510) 817-2278
www.bkconnection.com

Ordering information for print editions

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First Edition
Hardcover print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-8661-0
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-8662-7
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-8663-4
Digital audio ISBN 978-1-5230-8665-8

2020-1

Production manager: Susan Geraghty; Cover design: Nola Burger; Interior design and composition: Westchester Publishing Services; Copyeditor: Michele D. Jones; Proofreader: Cathy Mallon; Indexer: Rebecca Plunkett; Author photos: Ruby Somera [Carrie Melissa Jones]; Tony Deifell [Charles Vogl]; lllustrations: Dianna Brosius

From Charles to Kep.
In whatever way is yours,
may you bind others with purpose
in ways that both inspire and heal them.

From Carrie to Marcella.
Your mother taught me everything
about connection. Follow her
and you will always remain near to hugs,
a table full of friends,
and a community to guide you.

We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.

Dorothy Day

The most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.

Kurt Vonnegut

Readers of my book The Art of Community know that my journey toward community expertise began with my own lonely years wondering if Id ever create the friendships that I wanted or find a place where I knew that I belonged. It took many years and travel through several time zones in Africa and Asia to get to a place where those thoughts no longer distract me. On the journey, the miles were less important than the wise words from mentors, examples from my now heroes, and too many embarrassing experiments to remember.

The journey never ends. Its a daily practice to remain connected to the people I love, reach out to the people I want to know better, and ensure that Im supporting people important to me. My personal community is a dynamic creature that needs attention, feeding, hugs, and occasionally a shoulder to cry on. This of course is normal and the best-case scenario.

Its been a pleasure and a privilege to learn that the principles distilled in The Art of Community have inspired dinners, rituals, retreats, family reunions, heartfelt speeches, and long deep conversations across continents. Thank God for you who gather people you care about.

When starting this book, we aspired to write a guide that would speak equally to and embolden leaders in nonprofits, businesses, civic agencies, faith organizations, and political movements. Indeed, we believe nearly every principle discussed will serve all of these leaders equally.

We educate and encourage leaders to invest in authentic brand communities that both serve organizational goals and also enrich, support, and even heal participants. In our aspiration, this will replace misguided, shortsighted, and exploitative efforts.

As we developed this book, it grew apparent that the language of business and nonprofit leadership is different enough from that of social, cultural, faith, and political movements that we could not write a single book that speaks to both audiences equally well. This is disappointing.

This book speaks directly to businesses and nonprofit leadership in applicable language because they will continue to invest astounding resources to both connect to and gather people for the foreseeable future. In fact, we personally consult with organizations that collectively touch far more than one billion people, and their influence grows daily. Such investments will accelerate as organizations adapt to our growing experience economy in which customers seek appealing experiences that connect them with brands.

For those considering this resource to support movements making our era safer, more welcome, honest, and connected, please take what serves you. Its here for you, and our hearts go with you.

This little book is an offering to help everyone working toward more connection, healing, generosity, love, safety, and joy in a time that really needs it. We promise it is the best we could do at the time.

May all of us who pick up these ideas teach the next generation to conquer the loneliness and disconnection of our time.

Go get them and Godspeed.

Charles Vogl, M.Div.
Beautiful Oakland, CA

When I was ten years old, a teacher asked my mom if I was mute, and my hand shook when I raised it in class. Speaking up was painful.

Yet my silence hid a deep hunger for connection. I wanted someone to ask me, How are you? and then wait the five minutes I needed to offer an answer. I both wished for and feared what might happen if others knew my inner world, so I kept my mouth shut.

But when I turned fourteen years old, my father set up a hand-me-down computer in my bedroom. Little did he know that plugging in those cables sparked a career that would lead me to one day connect people around the worldemployees, customers, and innovatorsand would eventually lead to this book.

At that time, emo (emotional) musicfilled with screaming about unrequited loveoffered me a safe container for my angst and loneliness. At first, I listened alone in my room. With that new computer, I discovered that I could listen with others. I found forums sponsored by my favorite musicians. They felt magical to me: a place where I could find my voice. We talked about music, but more often, we talked about our lives. I dropped my emotional armor online and, for the first time, felt confident that I could speak up and be known.