The Threshold of Esteem, Regardless of Quality of Work.
// Bradley Mountain in Columbia, TN.
About an hour outside of Nashville, TN, is a coffee and mercantile shop that sets the bar for good coffee, modern and luxurious outerwear, and overall quality of products produced. Located in what is believed to be an old engine repair shop, exposed metal “I-Beams” and naturally lit cracked brick walls create a nostalgic and welcoming atmosphere. Beyond their great-tasting coffee and food, one of the largest components of the Bradley Mountain ecosystem is their general mercantile section and clothing that they produce. Jackets, Backpacks, Hats, Cologne, Soaps, Hatchets, Hats, Field Notebooks, Bandanas, Candles, and most other general goods. Every item is as quality and purposeful as the one next to it, and it seems that there isn’t one item that they make that there is not an immediate and powerful demand for.
At this point, I’m sure you are asking yourself, “What the hell does this coffee shop have to do with the Threshold of Esteem, what the hell IS a Threshold of Esteem, and how does this all tie in together?” That’s exactly what we are covering next; stay with me now. The journey to forming a new ideology of being a creative juggernaut all from liking a coffee shop isn’t a straight line, as you can imagine.
Two days ago, I visited Bradley Mountain to grab a coffee and do some reading of a new book I picked up. While my coffee was being prepared, I took my typical lap around the shop to look at new products, smell new colognes, and daydream about affording one of the waterproof jackets that they manufacture in the next room over. My eyes caught a new hat I had never seen before, and my immediate mental discourse was, “Oh man, that’s a beauty. I’d love to take that one home,” and then it hit me. I really didn’t care for the style, color, or general look of the hat all that much. It’s a shape I wouldn’t usually wear and had loud shades of blue and white that are far south of my style (if you know me personally, you know I pretty much exclusively wear black or earthy colors). Now, forced to unpack this strange mental U-turn I had just performed, I wanted to understand exactly WHY I was instantly attracted to the hat even though it really wasn’t my style at all. The answer is simple, and it pulls the curtain back on a phenomenon that is currently happening to all of us, and how we receive our favorite brands, musicians, and digital creators, regardless of the quality of their work.
As I said before, the answer is simple. I liked the hat because Bradley Mountain had produced it. Without REALLY analyzing the physical makeup of the hat, I had a predisposition to wanting it because of my own personal track record with Bradley Mountain. Bradley Mountain has never served me a bad cup of coffee, I use their cologne every day, and I wear their clothing. I discovered, in that moment, that in my own personal relationship with Bradley Mountain, they had passed my Threshold of Esteem, regardless of the quality of their work. This means that they have consistently outdone themselves over and over again and have now passed a threshold in my mind where I no longer need convincing on anything they create. If they make a hat, it’s great. If they produce a new cologne, it smells amazing. So on and so forth. Bradley Mountain has earned a creative “juggernaut” status with me and the hundreds of regulars they service every day.
[A quick aside on this: obviously, this isn’t a bulletproof and infinite status. If Bradley Mountain consistently started serving horrible coffee and creating undeniably ugly physical goods, people would take their business elsewhere. I’m just saying that as long as it’s close to their average, it’s a home run in the eyes of their regular customer base.]
Now, here is where we tie it all together with other brands, digital creators, and musicians. After coming to this realization, my mind started to drift to other sectors where this is happening and real-world examples I have seen recently. In an effort to promote anonymity of the people I am going to talk about, I will refrain from using specific names, but it’s likely that the person you first think of is your own example of this. The first person I thought of is one of the largest individuals in country music currently. Selling out the largest stadiums they can find and consistently releasing projects that spread like wildfire. This individual recently released a new album, and the production and artistic value was lackluster and at times painfully obvious to even non-musicians. Drums out of time, poorly mixed sound, songs with no direction, etc. Here is where we start making connections. The listeners who had this artist above their own Threshold of Esteem responded as you can imagine: “Album of the year,” “A masterclass in poetry,” “This perception of the world is beautiful.” Even though this album was a rather obvious decline in quality from their previous work, it was received well because it came from that individual. It had passed the Threshold of Esteem, regardless of the quality of the work. In simple terms: “It doesn’t matter how good it was, ___ ____ made it!!”
The next example is of a very talented photographer that has a large online community and is a huge inspiration to me personally. I’m self-aware enough to know that whatever this person posts, I will probably think it’s solid gold—or so I thought. A few weeks ago, this person posted a series of photographs that stemmed from a working relationship with Porsche. I studied the photos closely, tilted my head, and realized that I really thought they were a miss compared to other work. The composition, color, and delivery didn’t do anything for me. I curiously moved to the comments, and sure enough, there were thousands and thousands of comments giving praise and admiration of the work. Hopefully, I’ve got my point across with these few examples, and if you’ve read this far, I really do appreciate it—thank you. I’ll wrap this up.
With all that being said, it seems that the more people you can get past this threshold with your product, music, photos, etc., decides the lifespan of your work. This is the fountain of youth regarding long-term success. How does a brand or individual reach this level of immortality, where no matter what they put out into the universe, it is widely accepted because of the personal prestige associated with the creator? Hopefully, you weren’t expecting an answer to this because, truthfully, I have no idea, and if it was easy, everyone would do it, but my guess is consistent output of quality work. If you continue to consistently outdo yourself and build up your own personal prestige, then eventually you will reach a new level with your audience where no matter what you make, it’s the best because it came from you. In conclusion, what do Kendall Jenner, The Rock, and George Clooney all have in common? They all own a tequila that people don’t buy for the taste; they buy it because of who made it.
