A Bigger Voice

Seth Forges the Way, Again

Those who follow my writing know that I'm a big fan of Seth Godin, the prolific author/blogger on the new way of marketing.  I'm used to seeing him online or reading his books but he rarely makes the newspapers. It's not where his audience is.  Until last month, when he announced that he would no longer be using a traditional publisher for his books and it made the Wall Street Journal. Photo by Joi.

This is big news for an author who seems to publish a new book every 18-24 months.

His blog readers number in the hundreds of thousands, based on great content that Godin has churned out, year after year.  His community is well-established and loyal.

This idea of self-publishing has been in the works for nearly a decade. I remember seeing Godin speak nearly a decade ago at a conference in Boston. At that time, he was talking about self-publishing and breaking down the monopoly that publishers had with authors. 

The point?  We are the beneficiaries of changes that have been in the making for a long time. Let's not squander the opportunity.  It's never been easier to spread your ideas. It still takes the hard work of building a community. The difference is that there are powerful tools to help you engage kindred spirits and there are fewer gatekeepers.

What If Your Idea is No Good, Misinformed, or Driven By Ego?

I recently tweeted that there is a danger in turning an idea into a movement. This was in response to a friend of mine who had tweeted a famous line from the song,  Alice's Restaurant, "three people makes an organization." And if we can get 50 people, it's a movement. Photo by ninahale.

No, I haven't backtracked on the concept of A Bigger Voice, which is about developing a better way to turn an idea into a sustainable movement. But what I've been thinking about lately is that movements can be created based on faulty ideas, ego-driven leaders, and misinformed assumptions. It's useful to look for these red flags up front.

A few tips:

• Is the idea from the wisdom entrepreneur borne of experience--an insight to a problem that he/she has felt the pain of? Or is it political correctness that drives the cause?

• Is the idea a new twist to an age-old problem? Or is it rhetoric that can be identified as motherhood and apple pie?

• Is the wisdom entrepreneur humble enough to listen to other points of view, or is he/she driven by being right?
  

  

• Is the wisdom entrepreneur well-read and educated on the cause at hand to have validated the soundness of her idea? Or has emotion taken over any chance of looking at pertinent facts and figures?

I say this at a time when groups are rising up in the US in response to public policy, Congressional and presidential actions, and an upheaval of the status quo in society and business. Not all movements deserve to get the attention they do. Not all ideas are good ones. We need to be thoughtful enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

Photo by joguldi

Iran and Social Media

The power of technology to create a groundswell was shown in Iran this last week. People all over the world are seeing and hearing and reading what's going on with the protests over the recent elections and the response by the theocratic government. 

One voice can start a community. Communities create stunning results. It's even more startling when it's a world community, from a top columnist for a US paper to the anonymous voice of an Iranian woman. Two voices on Iran:

Peggy Noonan's column, Whose Side Are We On? You Have to Ask?, points out:

"Twittering and YouTubing made the story take hold and take off. But did the technology create the rebellion? No, it encouraged what was there."

She goes on to say,

"Revolutions are revolutions and rebellions are rebellions; they don't work unless the people are for it. In Iran, Twitter reported and encouraged. But the conviction must be there to be encouraged."

Wisdom entrepreneurs take note. Noonan is saying that the technology is a tool that amplifies. But the voice must be there first, with conviction, and I would say, commitment.

The other voice is a simple but powerful one, one that tells the story with minimal words and photos. It paints a stark portrait that only those who are there can fully comprehend.

Note that this YouTube video was created on Friday, June 19, less than a day ago. This morning, at about 9:30am Mountain Time, when I first saw the video, it had 300+ views. I found it from a friend on Facebook who had posted the link (thanks, @kareanderson!) Now, several hours later, as I'm posting this, the video has over 1700 views. That's how fast we can connect now.  When there is so much at stake, when we are compelled by history in the making, the ties between us are created with mind-boggling speed.

The following question has never been more important or pertinent:

What will you do with your voice?

Photos by .faramarz

Creaky Joints

One of the joys of this work is connecting with spirited individuals--people who are actively working on a cause that helps others and loving every minute of it. Next month, I'm giving a talk at the Juvenile Arthritis (JA) 2009 National Conference. The title of my talk is "Finding Your Voice." My goal is to inspire audience members to see themselves as "experts" in their own life, whether they are afflicted with JA or the parent of a child with JA. Finding your voice starts with recognizing that you have something to give to others and that usually comes from reflecting on your life and what you've learned from it.

In researching who already is doing this in the JA world, I came across a wonderful online community, called Creaky Joints. The site was started by Seth Ginsberg, when he was still an adolescent. Seth is now 27 years old and the online community has grown to 32,000 members. He works on Creaky Joints full-time and in his words, "Creaky Joints has become much bigger than me."  He talked about how Creaky Joints had become a model for other groups oriented around living with a disease. Seth also is passionate about influencing policy makers on bigger issues that impact the JA community and beyond--like health care reform. With Creaky Joints representing 32,000 voices, Seth clearly understands working both bottom-up and top-down.

I'm struck by how Seth has taken his experience of someone living with JA and turned that into the fuel for a vibrant community. His blog serves as one person's diary of what it's like to live with the disease and navigate daily life, in a way that most of us take for granted, but which resonates with his audience. 

I connected with Seth recently and found out that he's attending the JA conference, for the first time in many years. I've invited him to be interviewed, as part of my presentation at the JA conference. I'm excited that by telling his story, on stage, he'll inspire others to find their voice, and/or to join his community.

Seth has also agreed to be interviewed for this blog. Stay tuned!

PS. For those of you in Houston, I'm trying to arrange a meetup/tweetup while I'm there. If you are interested in being included, please email me, carol [at] abiggervoice.com.

More on Three Cups of Tea

Last month, I blogged about Greg Mortenson's decades-long journey as a wisdom entrepreneur. Mortenson is the author of the best-selling book, Three Cups of Tea.

Last week, Mortenson was in the news, having received the Star of Pakistan, Pakistan's highest civil award presented by the country's president, and in our uniquely American way, being named ABC News Person of the Week.

Here's the video from the latter. It highlights very clearly Mortenson's wisdom and as a ending note, Charlie Gibson gives a nod to the sustainability of Mortenson's efforts.

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

My thanks to Dave Murphy, who has been with me on my journey as a wisdom entrepreneur since the beginning (December 2007), for pointing out this video. When I am knee-deep with other stuff (e.g., launching the Networking Naturally Program), Dave brings me back to my core purpose in life--to help others turn their ideas and wisdom into a sustainable and scalable movement. Everything else is in service to that.

Twitter's Community of Super Bowl Fans

For a fascinating look at the Twitter conversation among people watching the Super Bowl, click here. My thanks to @jowyang for pointing to the site in his Twitter feed.

The technology is now able to capture "communities of the moment," what they are interested in and how they respond to external events. Very cool. 

I'm not sure what this means for A Bigger Voice other than the fact that technology continues to enable new voices to be heard.

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

A Bigger Voice in 2009: Learning From One Another

For 2009, A Bigger Voice is moving in a new direction. True to form, the team at A Bigger Voice agreed that the project needed a new direction, but didn’t agree on what that should be. We’re closing this chapter of a group blog with regular contributors on many topics. Instead, there will be a single author blog by Carol, with occasional guest bloggers, including the rest of the team. 

The focus of the blog will be interviews with wisdom entrepreneurs who illustrate some principles of A Bigger Voice in action, have had some recognition or success in creating stunning results, and are now struggling with scalability and financial sustainability. (If you know of someone who should be interviewed, let us know. We've also got some ideas.) We’ll still provide commentary on the tools for having A Bigger Voice—networking, technology, marketing—and the phases of A Bigger Voice—crystallizing, community building, and sustainability. But the commentary will be more closely tied to what wisdom entrepreneurs are experiencing in the field.

With this change, Carol moves closer to her passion of uncovering wisdom in unexpected places by interviewing interesting people and discussing what she learns in written, audio and video form. Beth, Bill, Ellen, and Simon move away from regular involvement with A Bigger Voice, but remain kindred spirits.  Their thoughtful voices will not be lost, but rather show up in new ways—whether through guest blogging, joining the conversation, or making connections for A Bigger Voice in their other networks.

We’ve learned a lot about building communities, creating together, and ownership that goes beyond who pays the bills. We’ve also learned about the importance of transparency in communities. The greatest learning comes not from when things proceed in a straight line, but when there are twists and turns in the road. For that, we are thankful.

So hang on. There’s much more to come. While we can’t say where we will end up, you can count on an interesting ride.

Photo by cogdogblog.

Christmas Eve, 2008

It's 4pm, on Christmas Eve. I have candles burning brightly in my office and a poinsettia plant on my desk. For all living things, there is a time for renewal and rest, before sowing the seeds for the next harvest.
 
That's what we'll be doing here at A Bigger Voice, resting, before the year starts off anew. We'll take a break from publishing on this blog until after the New Year. Until then, may you enjoy the stillness and magic of the season, and keep listening to the passionate voice inside.

Photo by Per Ola Wiberg