How things got better when I stopped building brands and started building worlds

A couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to wake up every day feeling excited by work. I wasn't necessarily hating work, but just had this underlying feeling of "meh" when I had to start the day. And I knew it wasn't going to be sustainable to feel that way forever. (I posted about it here a year into the journey)

Fast forward 2.5 years and we're living in a world where AI can do pretty much everything (and it's only going to get more skilled). It can write copy, be your therapist, build a website, write your emails etc... It's exciting.

But for me the part that is most exciting is what it can't do:
It can't see the world through your eyes.
This realisation has changed how I relate to my work and myself.

My new worldview

I've gone from working exclusively with tech companies on their branding, positioning and messaging to the thing that feels way more relevant: Helping people to build worlds, not brands.

What I now know is this: Underneath every product or creation is a way of seeing the world.

The businesses who are going to thrive in the AI era are the ones who recognise that people aren't just buying products. They're buying your way of seeing the world. Your perspective, your taste, your map of reality and your particular way of understanding things.

The difference?

On the surface World Builders "do" some of the same things entrepreneurs do: They create a product, build a website, map a launch strategy etc...
but their starting points are worlds apart.
The end result feels entirely different for the person they are serving.

• Traditional brand building asks "What will convert?" "How do we stand out?" "How do we sound better than the competition?"
  VS
• World building asks "What would people actually want to belong to?" "Who do I need to be to lead this?" "What do I wish existed?" "How does it feel to be here?"

One optimises for clicks. The other optimises for connection.
One builds a customer base. The other builds community.
One optimises for conversion. The other optimises for resonance.

The world builder manifesto...

Being a World Builder feels more true to what I think most of us are trying to experience when we create businesses: Build something that matters, something that feels like us, something other people actually want to be part of.

While AI remixes everything that already exists on the internet, our sole job will become:

Experience & interpret life ⮕ Turn experiences into stories ⮕ Build things we wish existed ⮕ Make it easy for people to join you.

How my work has evolved

A few years into consulting a pattern started to emerge. I kept seeing the same thing: two clients with similar businesses having completely different results.

One would build something, apply the messaging we worked on, and people would gravitate toward their products. The other would push and hustle but they would always hit a ceiling on how much they could break through.

After time I started to map the qualities of the ones who had more success. They are who had what I now call the "World Builder Identity".

This curiosity became a big fascination. It was a big part of my journey to being excited about work every day and it led me to get training in executive coaching so I could close the gap for those who were not yet embodying the World Builder Identity.

And I am so glad I followed my nose on what was making me feel inspired and alive. I started adopting the World Builder identity myself, and things shifted very quickly.

Here are testimonials from the World Builder work so far, as well as some organic messages I've been receiving the past few months... the tone and texture of my world has completely changed and I LOVE it.

What's next & why am I writing this...

Over the coming months, I'll be sharing stories of World Builders I think we can learn something from, those shaping culture today, the ones who know a thing or two about resonance. Episode 1 drops this week where I break down the exact ingredients that make someone a World Builder by looking at an Irish music act who embody everything I'm talking about.

A small example of my worldview in action: I decided to use Ghost as my publishing platform over Substack because 1) it's not VC-backed, (which in my experience has always meant the company prioritises rapid revenue growth and user engagement metrics over actual user experience) and 2) I'm aligned with the companies mission which they outline in detail here.

Get in touch

A lot of people already have the key elements needed to build a world - they just haven't mapped it out in a way that's easy to create from. If you're curious about becoming a World Builder, let's chat. Explore my world →