Chicken Coops and Campaigns

Photo via flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/brandonchalk/)

Umair Haque has a post at Harvard Business on the seven lessons learned from the Obama campaign. It's very thoughtful, clear and insightful.

There is always someone who can say it better. I knew there would be. I would definitely suggest you read it.

I've recently come across Umair's writings and find them fascinating. His words got me thinking about how these lessons overlap nicely with the notion of interconnectedness or selfless altrusim.

As crazy as it sounds, I even think the passage of laws regulating treatment of feed animals in California could be evidence that a higher purpose is evolving in our country and our world. Does enlarging chicken coops indicate a larger ideal for treatment of all citizens of the globe? Or, is it simply giving the birds more room to breathe?

Did the world cross the threshold this week? Like Umair says, are we seeing the 21st century evolution of business organization and strategy?

In the 21st century, there is nothing more asymmetrical - more disruptive, more revolutionary, or more innovative -- than the world-changing power of an ideal.

What's The One Thing?

I've always considered myself a competent writer. Generally speaking, the process of stringing together coherent thoughts has never been something that has given me great difficulty. Heck, I've got a degree in journalism and have been writing over the course of my entire professional career.

But today, I'm stuck.

I've found it absolutely impossible to adequately reflect on the results of the presidential election from a societal, cultural or political perspective. There are many more people who will address the 2008 election more eloquently and insightfully than I could ever dream to, so I won't even attempt it.

Suffice it to say, I am proud of my country for many reasons, and last night amplified my hope for the future. But the lens I will use as I try to cobble together my thoughts is one focused on ideas, communications and business.

To me, last night was the manifestation of Web 2.0.

The power of the collective one.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall and communism both occurred during my adult life, but I didn't feel personally attached to these world events. Don't get me wrong, I remember processing the significance of the pictures on my television, but there remained a disconnect.

Right or wrong, as far as I was concerned, these seismic shifts in world order happened because of government intervention and global pressures. Big entities clashing. The movement of the many, reacting to pressure from the top down. (Glossing over subtleties? Without question. But, that was my state of mind in the early 90s.)

Last night, as the tide of history washed in to shore, and the pictures of both celebrations and concessions came in from around the world, I was struck by how personally involved I felt.

This was not just the movement of many.

It was the power of the collective one.

How could a moment of initial curiosity about this first-term Senator from Illinois move from an innocent Google search to the perception that I made a difference? Not only was I witnessing the epic event in Grant Park, but I was also sharing the success of a candidate with whom I had developed a multi-faceted relationship.

A seemingly insignificant donation, made in response to an email request, became enveloped in emotion. Like a child bringing a box of coins to Sunday school with wide-eyed hope, mine was a contribution that, in campaigns past, would have not even been felt (or sought) by political elders.

Certainly he received contributions from many wealthy donors giving large sums, but by building and nurturing relationships on an individual level -- something unattainable or untried in the last couple of national elections -- Obama was the first that I know of to authentically harness the power of citizens to act.

A clear, compelling position, communicated across media, that started contextually relevant conversations. It demanded participation and collaboration. It allowed me to have a unique relationship with a concept and to see the importance of my story in that of the masses.

I am but one voice. Yet I feel it has risen above the din. I don't believe there is a more powerful example of the way to make a brand work in the world today.

Of Ants and Humans

Carl Zimmer reported in the New York Times over the weekend that scientists have a better idea as to why ants and other swarming animals can work so efficiently. Turns out, according to Iain Couzin, a mathematical biologist at Princeton and Oxford, that there are a series of trails ants leave and rules they follow which keep them from moving in a chaotic manner. Zimmer summarized the findings by stating that:

"[These] rules allow thousands of relatively simple animals to form a collective brain able to make decisions and move like a single organism."

Couzin and his colleagues tested their theories of chemical trails and behavioral "norms" using mathematical and computer models. They discovered that among these , and other swarms (birds, fish, locusts), each individual has to regularly choose between its desire to move in a particular direction or to follow the group path. A small number of leaders can turn the swarm by changing the input and that entices the rest of the group to "spontaneously come to a consensus and move in the direction chosen by the majority."

Brainless animals.

If only it weren't being found to occur in our species as well. Couzin has found in recent experiments that humans make eerily similar unconscious swarming decisions -- influenced by a small group of leaders, we tend to follow a path because of popularity.



Is that why The Blair Witch Project was successful? Does that explain The Tipping Point with empirical proof?

Seems to me to have a great deal of implication on behavior when it comes to marketing. That's also why I subscribe to the opinion that we should be helping our clients to be noticed for the right reasons with a small, influential audience. I think it was Seth Godin who said we should be creating marketing that is remark-able.

Getting noticed for energy and excitement will capture the attention of the leaders and the swarm will soon follow.