> _The more clearly you recognize who you do not want to be, the clearer your sense of identity and purpose will be._ > -Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War --- To build a sense of belonging, it is essential to have an enemy. The ideal enemy should not be a person or a group. All people and groups have something worth loving. The ideal enemy is something non-human: an idea, a practice, the accepted wisdom of your field. Importantly, it must not be too easy a target, like cancer, hunger, or infant mortality. To inspire a sense of belonging, your enemy must be polarizing. Deciding what you are is less important than deciding what you're not. A person or group can be many things at once without seeming weak or lacking confidence. But it is impossible to be confident without deciding what you are not. What you'll say no to. What you believe in fighting against. Most companies are risk averse, and the cancer of risk aversion intensifies as a company grows in size. Large companies are therefore generally uncomfortable with the idea of enemies, and they aim for mass appeal. To believe in anything is to believe it is worth taking risks for. If your company has not identified anything that you are not, don't be surprised when your clients or your members leave you for a more confident competitor who publicly stands against what your people dislike most, and offers them a better vision of the future. ## Counterexample In rare cases, it is possible to have an enemy that is not polarizing. In the early days of Netflix, the movie rental industry was dominated by Blockbuster. Most of Netflix's audience were movie buffs, and if you liked movies, you knew and loved Blockbuster. Netflix chose a different enemy: late fees. Late fees were widely hated, and they represented nearly half of Blockbuster's revenue.