This post continues the threading of ideas I’ve been writing about in ’rithmic: how relationships generate value, and how purpose acts as the doorway to both.
At the center is a simple realization—that value is opportunity waiting to be realized, and that story and language are a framework for realizing it.
Let’s start with the kind of idea that connects people to transform the world around it.
Starting at the end
Brands have always been built on a core idea that grows across time, channels, and shifting contexts. Flexing a singular idea is a way to stand out and offer continuity to stay relevant, resonant, and connected to individuals and communities alike.
In the generative context, the challenge sharpens: the idea must adapt and expand while conforming to predefined value. Concrete value still connects the dots as they emerge, anchoring meaning through growth. Crucially, value can also keep generation human: machines can execute, but humans sense and interpret with the future in mind.
Value is defined as what results from the result—the spillover (and sometimes conveniently ignored) effect. It must be concrete and measurable, which risks feeling mechanical or dry. And that’s where story comes in.
If value is the goal, story is the system that carries it forward:
Story moves value into culture, turning shared goals into active participation.
Story structures purpose, keeping it coherent as it evolves.
Story textures interpretation, combining with language to shape the experience.
Story welcomes iteration, allowing expression to grow without losing the plot.
From Identity to Story
Branding once revolved around static visual identity—symbolic, tightly controlled, focused on consistency.
Today, fixed identities struggle to stay meaningful and can lose touch with the value they aim to express.
Story offers a different approach. Generative by nature, story evolves with context, captures imaginations, invites participation. Story stays fluid and integrates emerging narratives without losing coherence.
A strong story keeps the brand grounded in tangible value and gives it a voice, translating shared purpose into experiences people can sense, share, and act on.
Shared purpose becomes actions that generate value.
What Now?
Brands don’t need to start over to navigate this shift.
The work is to reconnect purpose, value, and story—reshaping what already exists into something that dynamically adapts through action to create value as the world evolves.
In fact, in my practice, I’m helping organizations connect value and story through the Design Value Lab—two agile hands-on sessions aimed at defining value, structuring story, and blueprinting a value-centered creative approach.
The outcome is a relational framework in which the brand grows with its communities to create lasting value.
What Next?
My next post will likely be on story structure and language.
If these ideas resonate with where you’re thinking, I’d love to connect. You can reach me on my site (kolsky.co) or Linkedin (@diegokolsky), and of course by subscribing to this channel!