We love to talk about crowds. Crowds and demographics and labels.
The white people. The black people. The red, the yellow, the brown. The privileged. The underprivileged. The middle class.
The greater good – according to who?
In politics, it’s the liberals versus the conservatives versus the fence-sitters. Online, we’ve got Facebook friends and Twitter followings and blog subscribers.
We identify with or against crowds, movements, and ideologies. We expect things to get done by weight of numbers. More votes carries the day.
But lest we forget – the crowd isn’t real. The crowd is an illusion.
It’s Still Just You and Me
When we step back and watch the ripple effect of ideas, it’s easy to forget that crowds are made up of individuals. Individuals who may have little in common, who may not even agree on the right way to proceed. And the closer you look, the more fragmented the crowd becomes.
In reality, crowds have no minds or power of their own – though they may seem to. That’s the illusion. It still comes down to people, one by one, going as far as they can and accomplishing great things along the way.
It’s still just you and me.
Stop Using the Crowd as an Excuse
Crowds make us feel small and powerless, so it’s easy to use them as an excuse.
- What can I do? I’m just one person.
- Let the group handle it.
- It’s not my responsibility.
- I need a bigger audience first.
- This problem is bigger than me.
- Why me?
But consider this: the great things in history have all been accomplished by individuals, not crowds. We remember Alexander the Great – not the crowd of his army. Who invented the light bulb? Edison, not Edison’s team.
Let’s go a step further. Alexander’s army was made of individuals. And what’s more, Alexander didn’t need that particular army. He could have found others to fight for him. But the army needed Alexander.
So don’t play the numbers game. Stop limiting yourself based on the number of your friends or followers or supporters or votes.
Progress doesn’t lie in numbers, and you don’t need an army to start changing the world. Start changing the world first, and your army will find you.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Intersting post! It's a very good reminder to not forget the individual people and lives behind “the others”, “the customers”, “the government” and any number of other groups we often refer to in our daily lives.
I'm not quite with you on the conclusion, though. We can't all be Alexander and, so I believe, neither do we need to be.
That's a very good point, Shane. I agree with you – we don't all need to be Alexander. Not everyone can or should be the leader all the time. Learning to follow the right leader is also an important lesson. But I believe there's always a chance for each of us to lead and do something worth remembering.
Thanks for your input, Shane!
You've just reminded me of something: Seth Godin's new book is about Tribes, i.e. rallying relatively small groups of people around a certain cause and making stuff happen. I haven't read it, but I've read about it and it's on my reading list.
I guess you could say that you ideally find a balance between following others for good causes and being Alexander for some of your own causes.