Elliance and Jung – a Shared Philosophy

Elliance serves brands the way Carl Jung served people. We help find meaning, communicate essence and create forward motion.

In the mid eighties, after reading the collected works of C.G. Jung, I embraced Jungian thought because it resonated with me. A decade later, I founded Elliance and combined my rational training in computer science with my passion for Jungian psychology. Jung’s search for meaning through disciplines like mythology, folklore, religion, philosophy, and art shaped (or deeply influenced) the Elliance ethic (vision).

Here is a list of Jungian ideas that inform the Elliance way:

1. How tolerance for ambiguity unlocks creativity.
The uniting of seemingly opposing ideas is celebrated at Elliance. We have assembled a team that embodies the expansive Jungian vision that refrains from giving one discipline ascendancy over another.

For Elliance, “both-and” and “neither-this, nor-that” logic is more powerful than the classical “and-or” logic. We deeply believe in the magnificently affirmative unions of opposites: science and liberal arts, science and religion, east and west, modern and ancient, rationality and imagination, and causality and meaning.

2. How truth lights the way.
For us, marketing is a sacred art backed by truths, not empty claims. For us, actions speak louder than words. We are proof seekers. We don’t manufacture truths. We know when to combine proven truths with emergent ones. We recognize acorns take time to become oak trees.

3. How looking back shows the way forward.
Our origin stories matter. Our ancestors are gone, but their spirits live in us. Ancient mythologies are living forces in our depths. We understand our clients better when we understand their origin stories, and the forces that gave birth to their institutions.

For us, retrospective analysis is the starting point in the process of understanding a client situation, but we never lose sight of the ultimate goal of our work: to show them a way forward. While analysis gives us a retrospective and current view of a client situation, we must synthesize ideas to craft a new direction. We simply don’t stop at analysis; the clients pay us to take them to new terrains and new futures.

4. How authenticity brings salvation.
To live authentically, we help brands unshackle themselves from a life of shoulds, musts, oughts and envies. Instead of imitating others, we help brands discover and live in accordance with their authentic selves and their calling. Then we provide ongoing encouragement to live authentically.

5. How celebration liberates momentum.
When we bring fresh outside-in perspective for our clients, we see greatness where they sense none. We clear the cobwebs of cynicism, rationalism, and exclusivity. By celebrating the strengths, legacies and unsung heroes, we energize the people we serve and create forward momentum for the organizations we serve.

6. How embracing destiny engenders respect.
No apologies. No hiding behind excuses. No best kept secrets. We challenge our clients to boldly claim what’s rightfully theirs. To live the life they were meant to live – now, not later. That is the ultimate path to self-respect and admiration from others.

7. How we learn before we impart.
We float trial balloons, create test sites, and subject ourselves to new strategies before adding new moves in our play books for clients. We take it as our moral responsibility to experiment on ourselves and learn on our dime before asking clients to pay for their salvation.

8. How meaning is the soul of existence.
For us, form and function only paint a partial picture of reality. Meaning and imagination give direction to form and function. We infuse imagination into every asset we create. Clients and their customers are in search of meaning and we feel it is our responsibility to define it.

9. How dialogue invents future.
Taking a brand from one station to the next stop on its journey takes lots of dreaming, courage and dialogue. People on the bus collaboratively must decide their future, but we facilitate conversations across organizational silos. Respect, crossing the aisles, and a ton of conversations are part and parcel of this process. And because so many people are involved both internally and externally, the process simply takes time. The ancients knew it and practiced it. So must we.

10. How transformation restores hope.
This, above all, is what we share with Jung: a meaningful transformation; the realization of destiny by creating continuity between the past, present and future. We are the light of hope and comfort for our clients and their most precious brands.