How
to Launch Your Own Movement
By Thomas Frey
Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute
Too often the old notions about starting
a business fail because the end goal of what we’re trying
to accomplish is too big. It’s too big for what you can
accomplish yourself. It’s too big for the traditional revenue
paradigms of business modeling. And it’s too big to fit
within the legal structures that we as business people have to
operate within.
Lately the trend has been to “Launch
Your Own Movement”.
Much of the work done in the open
source community has given us clues as to how a movement can be
developed and launched, but large pieces of this emerging science
still remains a mystery.
But that said, there are several
necessary components to “movement launching” that,
if done well, set you on your way to lead the charge.
-
Establish the Need.
Make a convincing argument as to why the world needs the changes
you’re trying to make. Crafting the message is extremely
important. Always focus and "stay on message".
-
Naming.
Create a name that people can rally behind. Something that conveys
the noble purpose or your endeavor. Names like “Our Unshredable
History" have a nice flare but may not survive well over
time.
-
Credibility Building. Launching anything new
becomes an exercise in credibility building. You will need to
get many other people and businesses to buy into your thinking.
Start with the thought leaders. There are many
techniques for adding people and reputations to your membership
- advisory boards, surveys, staffing, letters-of-interest, testimonials,
etc. The more reputations you can add to your own reputation,
the better you are equipped to create a cumulative reputation
that extends far out into the market place.
-
Revenue
Streams. Not all movements need to operate like a business,
but if this is your sole source of income, you need to identify
your sources of funding early.
-
Participation.
Movements demand participation. You will need to devise strategies
for people to become involved in what you're doing. Linux became
an enabling technology with a platform on which others could
build.
Building new products, on their technology, was the form of
participation that everyone could buy into.
-
PHP
Nuke. Build a PHP Nuke website around the movement.
It's free. Post articles on a daily basis about anything to
do with file-sharing technology, permanence of data storage,
P2P limitations, etc. Let people participate and build the movement
organically. (www.phpnuke.org)
-
Finding Partners. No movement can accomplish
anything without growing it. The first partners you will need
are the people most affected by what you're trying to accomplish.
Start with a focused niche and other groups will
follow.
-
Branding.
Package your descriptions, phrases and discussions about what
you're doing into crisp clean sound bites. Good graphics and
logos coupled with an easily repeatable message can be amazingly
far reaching.
-
Creating Disciples. Train
the trainers. Start by creating an association - some non-profit
entity dedicated to the purpose of evangelizing your movement.
Organize a conference or forum.to bring people together. Once
they are thoroughly indoctrinated, they then will be empowered
to go out into the rest of the world and proclaim the good news
of your movement.
-
Establish Yourself as the Expert. Write a book
on this topic. You need to be the person with the deepest depth
of understanding and comprehension on this topic. You need to
become the singular most influential voice on this
topic. Your personality will become the driving force behind
this movement.
-
Be Relentless.
The movement needs to become the single most important thing
in your life. You need to eat, sleep and breath it. You must
become focused, relentless, tenacious, and dedicated to making
it happen. Let nothing distract you. Neither rain nor sleet
nor dark of night can keep you from your appointed rounds.
-
Make
it Fun.
No one will want to join your movement if it doesn't look like
fun. Make it fun. Throw a pie in the face of all new members.
Devise a corporate initiation strategy where the head of the
company has to ride a
horse around the town square dressed in nothing but feathers.
Something like that. Being unconventional will get you tons
of press.
There are thousands of details involved
in each of these points and it’s easy to get bogged down
with the details. But the most important thing is to just do it.
Be brave, be reckless, be creative, but just do it. Some of the
best plans in the world never got off the ground because people
talked themselves out of it.
The world has no respect for people
who don’t take risks. So come on in. The water is fine.
About
The Author: Thomas Frey is the Executive
Director and Founding Futurist of the DaVinci Institute, a futurist
think tank dedicated to reinventing the world. His papers and articles
about his work have been published in such notable publications
as Forbes Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Futurist Magazine, Chicago
Tribune, Rocky Mountain News, Oakland Tribune, Denver Business Journal,
and many more.
As a former
IBM engineer, Tom received more awards than any other engineer.
He is an internationally recognized futurist, designer, author,
entrepreneur, and public speaker. His specialty is the future of
technology and its impact on business and society.
Contact:
The DaVinci
Institute
Thomas J. Frey, Executive Director
PO Box 270315
Louisville, CO 80027
(303) 666-4133
dr2tom@davinciinstitute.com
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