What IS the Red Thread, anyway, and how do you use it?

It’s probably the question I get the most, “What IS the Red Thread?” The answer is both simple, and not. The simple answer is to talk about how there are “red threads” in just about every culture, religion, and philosophy. Even then, it gets complicated pretty quickly. After all, when someone says, the “red thread” they could be referring to any of them.

But, as I talk about in my refresh of my first-ever Find the Red Thread video, there are three particular “red threads” you might find useful, including the one that led to the Red Thread? (mine!):

THE RED THREAD OF FATE 

What it is: In certain Eastern philosophies, the “red thread of fate” (or sometimes, the “red thread of destiny”) refers to an invisible red thread that connects you with others. Some believe it ties you to your romantic soul mate. Others apply that connection more broadly, like between a child and their adoptive parents. Either way, people believe that the thread “may stretch or tangle,” but it never breaks.

How you can use it: The Red Thread of Fate ties to my Red Thread? approach in how both represent a connection to other people. In my Red Thread method, the Red Thread? is the case or connection between your audience’s question and the answer your idea, product, or service represents. Your aim, of course, is to keep that thread whole and untangled and your focus tied constantly to your audience.

THE ROGUE’S YARN

What it is: Our next red thread, also known as the “rogue’s yarn” finds its roots in the golden age of sailing. Think tall ships and pirates, and you’ll start to picture the kind of rogue we’re talking about: those that would steal highly valuable rope for their own ships. To deter that kind of theft, or to identify the owner of the rope after it was recovered, they started to insert a colored thread to mark it as their own. Most famously, the British Royal Navy chose red for their rogue’s yarns (Goethe even wrote about it in 1809), and another red thread metaphor was born.

How you can use it: As a career brand strategist (not to mention fan of pirates — AAARGH!), this particular “differentiation” red thread holds a special place in my heart. I love the idea that you can make your ideas so aligned with what or who you are that even the smallest piece of them can still be recognized as yours. The best way to do that? Root your ideas, and your case for them, in your unique combination of wants, perspectives, and beliefs, which is your Red Thread?.

ARIADNE’S RED THREAD

What it is: This last red thread is “the” red thread that inspired the name of my Red Thread? approach. In Swedish and other Nordic and European countries, the expression “red thread” refers to the core idea or theme of something. They talk about is as the “throughline” that makes it all make sense.

The Swedish “red thread” gets its name from the ancient Greek legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, a monster. As the story goes, Theseus had to kill the Minotaur to save his city. But to do that, Theseus first had to navigate a maze — the Labyrinth where the Minotaur lived. Yet no one, not even the Minotaur, had ever escaped it. But Theseus did. A woman named Ariadne gave Theseus a red thread to trace his path to the monster. He then retraced his path on his way out.

How you can use it: Ariadne’s red thread shows up in all sorts of ways. I see interior designers refer to the “red thread” of a particular space or room — the connecting elements. Some academics use it to refer to the “line of argument” in a dissertation or thesis. It’s in this “make things make sense” use that all the red threads I’ve talked about so far twine together. Your idea — your product, your brand, your business — has a red thread, too. It’s why your idea makes sense to you. When you can make it make sense to other people, they’ll see the “red thread,” too.

But how do you find it? That’s what I wanted to know. And then I realized: like Theseus, you need to retrace your steps. You need to follow the mental path you took to reach your idea. That mental path led you from a question you wanted answered, to seeing a problem in perspective that others didn’t, through a moment of truth rooted in your beliefs, to a crystal clear answer that would change your thinking and actions forever. It’s the path that everyone takes to make sense of the world.

It’s this universal, but unique, mental path that turned into the Red Thread? method. It’s what will help you find the case for your idea (Ariadne!), rooted in your distinct point of view (rogue’s yarn!), so you can serve the people you want and need to serve (red thread of fate). If you’re a regular reader, you know the path well:

• Establish a GOAL, something your audience wants
• Introduce a PROBLEM they didn’t know they had
• Reveal a TRUTH that makes the Problem impossible to ignore
• Define the CHANGE needed to achieve the Goal
• Describe the ACTION that creates the change
• All so you can help them achieve their original goal, and most likely, so much more.

So, that’s my answer to the question I get the most. The question I like to ask the most, though, is the one I want to ask you now:

What’s your Red Thread?