I had an interesting conversation last week about intangibles. I think this word gets used in strange ways.
When businesses talk about “intangibles” it seems to me they mean things that can’t really be measured but can be felt. Yet they then attempt to measure them and use this word – intangible – to describe them as if they literally can’t be felt.
Which is odd. Mention a person or brand to me with a strong identity and I will have a strong felt reaction. So will most people. We might put some rational words to that reaction but there will be a feeling at the core of it. The feeling may be disgust delight excitement… and it will almost certainly have a physical response that goes with it, a gut feel.
It seems to me that if we can’t value – in the minimal sense of actually paying attention to – the felt reactions in our own bodies… we’re missing something pretty vital. And as my friend Mark Brady points out, no-one threw themselves on a hand grenade for a spreadsheet.
This is a can of worms I know, but I felt like opening it.
