If It Belongs to Everybody, It Belongs to Nobody

Successful companies are called Apple, Starbucks, and Dell. Not the Cupertino Apples. Not the Seattle Starbucks. Not the Texas Dells.

Now imagine doing that with sports teams. Instead of the Chicago Bulls, “Amalgamated Basketball Solutions.” Instead of the Yankees, something you’d name a car. Invicta. Apogee. Murano.

It falls apart immediately. Sports teams were never named like companies. They were named like neighborhoods.

The Minnesota Vikings, because Minnesota is full of Swedes. The Boston Celtics, because Boston is full of the Irish. A team doesn’t just play a sport. It stands in for a place, and everyone who calls that place home.

That’s why a team can lose for a decade straight and people still show up. The game was only ever the excuse.

What they show up for is an us. OUR city. OUR colors. OUR history. OUR rivals. OUR humiliating losses nobody’s allowed to bring up at Thanksgiving. OUR miracle win that’s become family folklore.

People don’t get loyal to companies. They get loyal to identities. And identity needs somewhere to live.

The strongest cultures build their own geography. An inside and an outside. Language the outsiders don’t get. Stories everyone already knows. Local legends nobody had to explain twice.

Then they grow. And the growing starts a slow erosion.

The weird traditions get called unprofessional.

The inside language gets standardized.

The rough edges get sanded down by corp comms.

Eventually what’s left could belong to anybody. Which, it turns out, means it belongs to nobody.

Try telling a lifelong Celtics fan that “Boston” is getting dropped from the name because leadership wants something more globally inclusive. See how far you get.

Companies do the same thing constantly. They think belonging means making everything broad enough that nobody could possibly object to it.

Sports teams figured out the opposite a hundred years ago. Belonging gets stronger, not weaker, the more specific it gets.

Nobody’s asking your sales team to paint their faces before the Tuesday standup. Although it would liven things up considerably.

If you want that kind of devotion, stop trying to make the culture safe for everyone.

Make it home for someone.