I have been pondering the implications and impact of naming. We name our emotions and our businesses and people and, in doing so, we both label and contain, providing for easy reference and understanding. Does it also diminish its essence?
A name forms or embeds identity. I often hear myself commenting on how easily I remember the name of someone whose name ‘suits’ them; as though someone can ‘look like their name” and yet it is much more than that. We love hearing our name out of the mouths of those we love.
My ImpactBank co-creator and I took time playing with our name; we tried on different versions; when we would write e-mails or share written work in support of the system we would test different forms of our name. It felt a bit like ‘dress-up’ when I was a child; playing with identity.
At the base of our name one thing remained the same throughout; we were incorporating the word “bank”.. We played with Engagement Bank,; E-bank,; Embankment, Interest Bank, Quest Bank and many more! One day something caused us to ask what was inspiring us and when we answered this, we had our name. We want to make an impact on the world and on every individual who is part of one of our groups, webinars, conferences, town halls, radio shows AND we want to be impacted by every relationship and conversation. We invite anyone who wants to bank on the power of impact, to join us!
We have come to realize that “how I am choosing to be” in any situation is my greatest investment in the outcome. It was in a conversation about how to incorporate personal responsibility we recognized how
ImpactBank, when shortened was IB so it then became our motto. IB= how I am Being is what I seek to notice each and every day. So while naming something essentially limits, the act of naming in itself may be about arriving at its essence.
We are banking on making an impact; what could be more inspiring!?
Written by Roxanne Bartel