The touchstone in context

It's strange. You get a concept and then see it in lots of different contexts.

Remember the short brief introducing the concept of touchstones? Here's an example from Ian Sanders' latest book - 365 Ways to Have a Good Day.

Imagine if your younger self could take steps to make sure your older self wouldn’t go off track. That’s Ian Rogers’ story. In his early 20s Ian got a tattoo. It stretches across his right hand and onto his fingers. Ian started his career building a website for the Beastie Boys while he was a teenager. He went on to work in senior roles at Apple Music and the luxury brand group LVMH. He’s currently with French fintech startup Ledger. He said it was as if his younger self was trying to protect his older self: that wherever he worked it wouldn’t matter if he had tattoos on his fingers. I love it. It’s like his tattoo is a compass. It makes sure he chooses the right path in life. What stamp can you put on your life to make sure you’re on the right path?

Did you know there's a sub-culture for knuckle tattoos. Many of which are touchstones ... free ... have hope (useful with some clients) ... self made ... find love ... hold fast.

More inspiration for your touchstone. Unfortunately 'client experience' is a few letters too many for a knuckle tattoo.

Another example came my way from Austin Kleon, the writer who draws. Author of Steal Like an Artist, he shared an acronym from one of his readers, “WAIT,” as in: “Why am I talking?”

The mini-mission.

WAIT. How useful a touchstone is that? Which brings us to the mini-mission, which is noticing touchtones in your environment, particularly words and symbols.

• Where are they used?

• What do they look or sound like?

• Which capabilities are they reinforcing?

• What values do these trigger?

• And who is using them?

• For what purpose?

And if you're looking for inspiration try films, adverts, podcasts, books, meetings ... filtering for touchstones. You'll find more than you expect.

Hold fast.