Ever wanted to start a movement? To get the ball rolling in a new direction, to have followers join you in some new enterprise, game or opportunity? Or in the pursuit of an ideal or your passion?
Derek Sivers shows us how. He's a professional musician and the founder of CD Baby that generated huge sales of independent music over the web and changed forever the way music is sold. His latest project is MuckWorks to help reduce the burdens (and boredom) of creative people.
Critical to the success of a movement is not the leader but the first follower. If you don't have followers all you have is a "lone nut" doing his or her own thing.
For a movement to take-off the leader must embrace the first followers as equals and nurture them. Followers give legitimacy to what the leader is doing.
As others join the movement the risk of seeming to be wrong or stupid is reduced. A tipping point is reached when a critical mass of people join almost simultaneously to be part of the "in crowd". After this, the movement becomes self-sustaining.
The stragglers, those most reluctant to join in, ultimately do so to avoid being stigmatized as uncool.
So here's a workshop to plan how to start your own movement:
So here's a workshop to plan how to start your own movement:
1. Describe an idea for a movement. What is your cause, ideal or opportunity? And how is it different? Or stand-out from the mainstream?
2. What do you have do to get your first follower? To attract attention in public?
3. Once your first followers have joined, what can you do to embrace them as equals? To promote the cause even more?
4. If people join to emulate what the followers are doing, how can you orchestrate what the followers are doing to maximise attention, and promote growth of the movement, by being a brilliant follower yourself?
5. What might be the advantages of persuading someone to be the "lone nut" that you could follow?
6. What "lone nuts" do you now regret you did not follow? And what did you never get to experience as a consequence?
7. What actions of a leader or follower might cause a movement to collapse, that you need to avoid?
5. What might be the advantages of persuading someone to be the "lone nut" that you could follow?
6. What "lone nuts" do you now regret you did not follow? And what did you never get to experience as a consequence?
7. What actions of a leader or follower might cause a movement to collapse, that you need to avoid?
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