The True Meaning Of Relevance: It's Not What You Think

Relevance isn't about you. It is about the value that you create.

Dr. Martina Olbert
4 min readMay 28, 2021

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We don't understand properly what relevance means in business today. Not understanding the true meaning of something hinders its potential for growth. This is why it’s important that we understand what things mean in and of themselves.

TODAY’S THOUGHT: RELEVANCE

I am starting to feel like we don’t really understand the true meaning of relevance in our business today struck by the quick rise of social media and digital democratisation. All of this and purpose combined have shifted the conversation towards us, instead of the thing that we're talking about.

As a result of this, it seems as if relevance has become a buddy club rather than a more profound search for the truth and meaning we create in the world. Something more substantial that is supposed to have a deeper value.

We see the same old faces everywhere talking about the same uninspired things we’ve heard a million times. Yet, we seldom if ever hear anything that has the ability to turn our minds in a direction that actually matters.

This creates an illusion that there is nothing new going on, nothing new to learn and become aware of for our own growth to become more of who we are today, more of whom we could become if we wanted to. If we wanted to grow instead of wanting to be distracted and entertained.

The Real Problem With Relevance

This has inevitably led me to a thought today…

The real problem with “relevance” is that people don’t want Relevance, as in to know the answers, the truth and the correct information to build things of value to bring on social change.

They want Their Own Relevance, as in fame. That’s why they talk to the same people to gain traction and visibility. Not for the subject they're talking about, but for themselves. To boost their own personal brand, monetise their audiences and keep themselves afloat. The circle has closed…

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Dr. Martina Olbert

Humanist, Futurist, Thinker, Speaker, Strategist, and Social scientist. Laying the foundations for Humanistic Capitalism using business to drive social change.