Why is it so important to us to be considered relevant?  What’s behind this need?  Who determines our relevance?  I heard “relevance” used to describe a contender on AMERICAN IDOL – and then when the artist was voted off a few weeks later, I wondered, “Did she suddenly become irrelevant?”

When the world, or our particular industry, determines that we are relevant, how do we maintain that status?

I’ve studied how businesses achieve relevance to help build my brand. I, like all of us in business, want to continue to offer services that are unique, informative, valuable and consumer friendly.  Tim Manners writes in his book RELEVANCE that, “Relevant brands grow because they like their customers and understand them enough to predict what they want.”  He goes on to write, “Relevant brands aren’t afraid to fail, but they never forget what made them successful in the first place.”

I understand the importance of staying in touch with the ingredients that helped my business succeed initially – and to keep an open mind about how to expand or adapt my services as needed.  In such a chaotic time in our economy and, effectively, our lives, we are all searching for greater meaning.  Feeling relevant equals feeling like we have meaning.  My hope is that we learn to build meaning from the inside so that it is reflected in our approach to our relationships with others, our goals and our careers.  Working in a town where our “moment” can be so fleeting, we need to recognize that true value starts from within and continues from within.