Are You Worth Following?

When I first started working on A Bigger Voice, back in December 2007, I discounted the role of personal leadership/development in turning an idea into a sustainable movement. I was more concerned with what wisdom entrepreneurs need to do, rather than how they need to be.  Ironic, given that I've been a professional coach since 2003.  Photo by HaPe_Gera

My pet peeves in working with social entrepreneurs--places where they shoot themselves in the foot:

• Not committed.  See my post about why commitment trumps passion.
• Not respecting the power of grassroots and/or obsessed with power at the top to create change.
• Focused on the "big bang" of an event (front end) instead of the long-term conversation (back end).
• Thinking that someone else needs to make the first move before change can happen.

This is all about your head game--how you view the world, how you are being.

Seth Godin sums this up very nicely in his newest book, Tribes. He asks the question:

Are you worth following?

Indeed. If you're not committed, if you only are in it for the big bang, if you can only see power at the top, if you keep waiting for someone else to make the first move, you're not worth following. Pure and simple.

If you are passionate about creating change in the world, pause to assess whether you are worth following. Leave a comment below. I want to hear not only where you come up short, but where you really shine.

Photo by jhdtolentino

Comments

[Tre ~]

Wow. Incredibly humbling questions but vital to assess.
I surely hope to be communicative, conversational, about the building, about the creating infrastructure that works for the all of us. But I surely know I have my sense of what works, and has worked, for me, for others. And surely my blog/posts promote that perspective. I know I'd like to find a way to coexist..without being another sliver of a pie chart...one more individual with HER perspective...you know..one of THOSE people. But what I WANT and what I DO and how I BE...there's probably huge gaps. MAYBE a starting point is finding where we all agree....I am being vague...but maybe it doesn't matter the agenda...YET...where do we agree and build from there.
Great questions. Over here pondering ongoingly ;)

[Carol Ross]

Thanks, Tre, for stopping by. I love where you are pointing, as one of the hardest things about being a wisdom entrepreneur is what happens as the community starts to get some momentum. It's critical that at some point, the wisdom entrepreneur lets go--to the community--so that the initial idea can reach its full potential. I've used the example of the founder of AA, who could not have imagined what AA would become. At some point, he let go of AA to the AA community. His 12 steps are still integral to AA but after that, there's all kinds of variations, depending on the local chapter.

Entrepreneurs in general have the same challenge--to let go at some point of their baby, to others who can grow it further.