Though I’m an Advocate for mental health and other social justice issues I think Conscious Capitalism shouldn’t be written off as a viable economic engine for businesses and workers and individuals alike.

The founder of the Container Store wrote the book Conscious Capitalism. If I remember right he coined this term.

Another author has written a scathing expose of Nike. His book allegedly corroborates that Nike’s sponsorship of student athletes caused the rise of rapes on campus.

Going back years ago Nike was also excoriated for their sweatshop scandal involving workers who sewed their clothes.

Taking this as it might be and has been I was compelled to read the book in the photo despite the fact that Nike isn’t infallible.

Greg Hoffman the author is a biracial man whose father is Black and mother is white. His adoptive parents were white and encouraged his love of art and sports from an early age. After meeting both birth parents and their families it clicked where he got his innate art talent from: His birth sister was a graphic designer too. And his grandmother was an artist who painted.

No–I don’t like to single out people along the lines of their race. Yet the facts of who Gregg Hoffman is and what he stands for deserve a call-out. He rose from being an intern at Nike to becoming their Chief Marketing Officer. In a 27-year career with the company that spanned breakthrough product campaigns.

The number-one principle Hoffman espouses is that through storytelling you can build a brand by making customers feel they are a part of the story. Treat them as humans and appeal to their emotions to create a fervor for your product.

One of the Nike campaign videos that I viewed circa 2017 left a lasting impression on me. The message of the video played into having empathy for your customers.

As a brand marketer (and as an ordinary human being) you need to step outside yourself to understand the experiences of others.

The video in question provoked a lot of people’s ire. Colin Kaepernick is narrating the idea that the dreams of your youth should not be abandoned when you become an adult.

The theme of the video was Dream Crazy.

The last thing Kaepernick says in the video is: Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy. Ask if they’re crazy enough.

Those last two sentences inspired me to dare greatly.

I recommend you buy Emotion by Design or check it out of the library.

In the coming blog entry I’m going to tell my story. I was crazy enough to think recovery was possible at a time when everybody thought it wasn’t.