52. Agency, Story, And Symbols with Guest Billy Broas

When building a thing to bring out to the world, we face “marketing.” Some of us who have had to put this on their to-do list may well have had a similar response to me, which is a rather complex mess of emotions perhaps summarized by:

“Ugh”

The whole enterprise can touch off feelings of selfishness, manipulation, and more. Here’s a thing. Gimme money.

“Ugh"

Some time ago, I learned of Billy Broas’ work in marketing, joined a course he’d put together, and was duly impressed by how he focused on honoring a person’s agency, that ability for a person to decide for themselves.

As agency is truly the centerpiece of the work I do, whether as a therapist or as a productivity talking head, I invited Billy onto the Rhythms of Focus.

In this episode, Rhythms of Focus S01 Episode 52 - Agency, Story, And Symbols with Guest Billy Broas, we wander this way and that, true to the name of the show.

We get into the ideas of:

• Marketing as argument
• People’s inherent dignity in decision-making
• The importance of story, and how it is is about consciousness, attention, and meaning, not just chronology.
• and much more

I hope you give it a listen and let me know what you think!

You can also learn more about Billy at his website, ​BillyBroas.com

Check out Billy's book, Simple Marketing for Smart People

And find his manifesto at marketingisanargument.com

Chapters:

[00:01:24] Introduction

[00:03:35] The Problem with Manipulative Marketing

[00:06:29] Humans as Machines — The Reductionist View

[00:09:14] Ontology, Dignity, and a Different Starting Point

[00:14:10] Story, Meaning, and the Limits of Facts

[00:15:11] Heaven, Earth, and the Architecture of Meaning

[00:23:33] The Masculine, the Feminine, and Creative Wandering

[00:25:15] Purpose, Worship, and What We Sacrifice To

[00:28:24] Pausing, Routine, and the Practice of Reflection

[00:34:02] The Hero's Journey and the Chiasmus

[00:37:10] Thoughts as Messengers, Not Masters

[00:39:41] Artificial Scarcity and the Theft of Agency

[00:40:51] Philosophy Over Psychology — Enhancing vs. Removing Agency

[00:45:32] Trust, Love, and the Voluntary Transaction

[00:47:54] Where to Find Billy