The Word "Interesting" Gets A Bad Rap



The word "interesting" gets a bad rap. To many, it sounds dismissive, cold, cerebral (heaven forbid!), or in the case of Hollywood movies, even villainous. Though often dismissed as lacking emotion or values, interestingness is actually packed with human values, stemming from the appreciative wonder that comes from having patterns (not fixed ideas or judgments) to apply to everything you see:


Humility
"Stay Stupid." (Jim Riswold) "
"Anyone who wants to be cured of ignorance must confess it." (Montaigne)

Openness, Tolerance
Traits generally correlated with progressive values and personality types, but interestingness has a conservative core: the preservation of differences, grounded in the acceptance of strategic uncertainty.

Curiosity
“Be curious. Not judgemental.”(Ted Lasso) 
"A desire to understand. Not “lost in thought”, but found.

Inclusiveness
No more, ‘But I’m not a creative!’ Maybe not, but you know what’s interesting and what isn't.

Respect
"People don’t mind being sold to if they understand why it’s happening and they enjoy the process" (Jeff Goodby) 
“The buying of time or space is not the taking out of a hunting license on someone else's private preserve but is the renting of a stage on which we may perform.” (Gossage)

Humanistic Marketing may sound like an oxymoron, but I hope not. Because despite regular uproars over supposed mind-control techniques from subliminal advertising to neuromarketing, engaging with people in a way that interests them is still by far the most effective and efficient long-term marketing tool we have.

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