360DigitalInfluence

A rather simple thought as we finish out the week …

[This post is adapted from one I originally wrote about two years ago. You can see that full post here.]

I was in a meeting where someone used the Finnish term Sisu.  They were shocked that I knew what it meant until I explained that l used to work for Nokia.

What many people know, but many more don’t, is that Nokia is a Finnish company.  I had many [+15] opportunities to travel to Finland.  As you can imagine, I got to know many Finns and learn about the culture.  One of the guiding principles of Finland is something called Sisu.  As Wikipedia describes it, Sisu …

“… could be roughly translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. The equivalent in English is “to have guts”, and indeed, the word derives from sisus, which means something inner or interior. However, sisu has a long-term element in it; it is not momentary courage, but the ability to sustain the same.”

I suppose the closest American equivalent is “patriotism,” but that does not get at the essence of Sisu.  You see, the Finns have endured centuries of struggles against the Russians, Germans, Swedes (and probably several others I don’t know about).  Not to mention that Finland is a tough place – cold, dark and vast.  These factors combine to give Finns a fortitude unlike any I’ve ever seen.

Interestingly, Sisu can also cause insularity — it is after all a bunkerish mentality.  Despite that I always very much appreciated Sisu — maybe not so much for what it stands for, but more for the fact that an entire nation operates under such a clear guiding principle.

SO WHAT IAN???

So it just got me thinking … what’s your destination’s Sisu?  Or as my colleagues might ask, what’s your lighthouse?  What’s the guiding principal on which your destination/country is built … find it, articulate it and use it as the cornerstone of all your marketing.

Have a great weekend.