When the Brand Doesn't Fit

My college was once called the place where fun goes to die. Coined by students who went there, and made famous by t-shirts, it was then amplified by the national press and it stuck. I bristle every time I hear that phrase. This sad week, more than usual.

Have you ever been called a name by a bully, or labeled something by a colleague, or a boss, and you just knew it was so far from the truth, that you wanted to scream, “No…you are so damn wrong?”

I was thinking about that as I returned from my 35th (gasp), college reunion on Sunday. The University of Chicago is known as a cerebral place, one that is defined by the life of the mind. But I would also emphatically add that it is about the life of the heart and of passion.

Reunion weekend is not about football at Chicago. Yes, Jay Berwanger won the Heisman Trophy in 1935 (then called the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy); but football was never really our thing, although we have played Division III since 1973, after a long hiatus.

What was (and is) our thing on Reunion Weekend is visiting 57th Street books, having impactful conversations about equity and inclusion over take-out Harold’s (quarter white with hot sauce, salt and pepper) at the Reynold’s Club, seeing old quick witted Broadview friends at the Beer Tent, who haven't aged at all. It includes attending Uncommon Core lectures and learning from Dr. David Uminsky and Dr.'s Tian and Claud about how bioelectronics, machine learning and neonatology are coming together to help illuminate human health and disease. It is about listening to David Alexrod, Director of the Institute of Politics (IOP), hold a fascinating conversation with Heidi Heitkamp, Amy Walter and Sarah Longwell about a shift in voter power in the midterms.

It’s about a brilliant and inspiring conversation moderated at the Oriental Institute by Don McLellan with our 92-year-old President Emerita, Hanna Holborn Gray, about her 2018 memoir, An Academic Life, racing to change for dinner, and then discussing innovative forms of news streaming services during our class dinner at the Quad Club. It’s about going to a bar in downtown Chicago to see and dance to the Hempcrete Queen, and her band, Barbie Army (who just released an old-school LP), and hanging with her husband.

It is about riding bicycles to a Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field with dear friends, in the pouring rain, catching up with an old Ultimate friend, and meeting the charming daughter of the guitar player from my favorite college band, who is now a renowned psychoanalyst.

Anyone who thinks that The University of Chicago wasn’t fun had a very different experience than I did. To be able to weave in and out of deep and meaningful conversations for 3 days with old and new friends was a clear reminder of why I value the institution the way I do.

I ended up at Chicago through incredible luck. I was dating someone from camp who wanted to study with Saul Bellow. We each agreed to apply. I didn't know about the school before him. I was accepted into a few prestigious schools, but Chicago made it possible for me to attend. We transferred together, but before the end of our first quarter, he left. I stayed, thanks to tons of academic and financial aid, and a bizarre range of work study jobs.

Many of my closest friends are still from my time there. I’m first-generation college. I worked my ass off to be there and I’m forever grateful. Doors opened for me in ways that I never could have imagined, but more importantly, my mind opened. Chicago taught me how to think, how to argue, but mostly, how to listen.

Mrs. Gray said it well on Friday. She said, “The University of Chicago teaches students how to protect and defend our views, but to be open to the views of others.”

U of C is a unique place. And it was the perfect place for me.

Sometimes brands are accurate. Sometimes you must look deeper for their real meaning. I’d suggest an alternative to, "Where fun goes to die." My thought is, "Where fun goes to be reborn daily."

Does your brand reflect your core ethos or does it need a refresh to honestly reflect who you are and thus attract the right people into your life? Does your brand engender the same type of loyalty I just described here? Does your brand make those connected to you feel deeply?

Let me know if you ever want to talk about your branding—it is an area I feel deeply about.

#UChicago #UChiAW #LifeoftheMind #Branding #LindaOrtonConsulting