on them as well as highly original crocheted caps, t-shirts, and egg cosies via his website “Oma Schmidts Masche.” Schmidt used to be an architect. Today, he has created his own tribe with products that are sold online throughout Germany, if not even worldwide. With a small retail store and, thus, a very limited target group, this probably wouldn’t have been possible.
–> Andreas Stammnitz’s true passion has always been to teach others. Although he was very successful in his job as head of marketing for a big German publishing house, he just couldn’t let go of the idea of setting up his own business in the field of adult education. Today, Stammnitz has cut back to part-time and is currently setting up an online community that offers coaching and professional development services.
These are just three examples of Seth Godin’s main thesis that the new economic order rewards passion: “Tribes are about faith – about belief in an idea and in a community,” writes the US author. “Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy. Many people are starting to realize that they work a lot and that working on stuff they believe in (and making things happen) is much more satisfying than just getting a paycheck and waiting to get fired (or die).”
Godin argues that life is too short to hate what you do every day – too short to produce mediocre stuff. Almost everything that is considered standard, ordinary, or average today is perceived as being mediocre – i.e. boring – by people: “The end result of this is that many people (many really good people) spend all day trying to defend what they do, trying to sell what they’ve always sold, and trying to prevent their organizations from being devoured by the forces of the new. It must be wearing them out. Defending mediocrity is exhausting,” says Godin. Those who work for Opel, Karstadt, or some daily paper will know what he means.
Yet what if you fear that your passion, hobby, or field of interest is too exotic? Or too ordinary? In short: What happens if you’re afraid to exchange the security of mediocrity with the adventure of the unknown? The first thing you should do is to consider the example of Andreas Stammnitz: Try to gradually set up your new business, website, store, or tribe alongside your job. You will find out when the time is right to abandon the old and to focus entirely on the new. However, you should be ready to deal with failure constructively and to learn from it: “Understand how powerful it is not to have to be right,” says John Naisbitt – renowned futurologist, author of the world bestseller “Megatrends,” and advisor to several US presidents – in his recent book “Mindset”: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you fear to be wrong, you will not be able to exploit the opportunities this evolutionary period is offering.”
Second, consider the “1,000 True Fans” theory that was developed by Kevin Kelly, Internet legend and co-founder of Wired Magazine. The theory states that normally 1,000 true fans are enough to enable an artist or an owner of a small store to make a living. According to Kelly, a true fan will bring three friends with him to a concert. He will buy the expensive hardcover edition of a book instead of only clicking through the author’s website. He will drive across the city to buy a specific brand of chocolate at a specific store. And, most notably, he will support the tribe and spread the word, telling others about how great it is to be a fan of – you!
Now, does this mean that all of us should become small-scale entrepreneurs, bloggers, artists, or chocolate retailers? No. That’s exactly what it doesn’t mean. Organizations are still important: They increase efficiency and make it possible to scale processes and reduce complexity. We need organizations. They “give us the ability to create complex products,” writes Godin. “They provide the muscle and consistency necessary to get things to market and to back them up. Most important, organizations have the scale to care for large tribes.” However, organizations don’t have to be factories – this is how Godin refers to organizations in which your boss tells you what to do – anymore. Routine tasks, standardized processes, and the manufacturing of mass products only slow modern companies down and can easily be outsourced. “The organizations of the future are filled with smart, fast, flexible people on a mission,” says Godin.
Tribes might as well emerge within organizations – e.g., around someone who had an innovative idea, someone who inspires her colleagues with her enthusiasm, someone who isn’t just punching the time clock, or someone who doesn’t only think about what her supervisors expect her to do, but what goals they have in mind and how they are trying to achieve them. Thus, finding out what your heart is set on, telling others about it, and gathering fans around you to pursue a common goal works just as well in a company, i.e. at your workplace. Actually, you have to do this in order not to die of boredom or to avoid being dismissed due to lack of creativity.
Not only has it become dramatically easier today to create this sort of life for yourself – it is also much more likely that this strategy will bring you success and satisfaction.
Or not? To get to a definitive answer in this respect, it might be helpful to find out more about the things that make us happy. Experts have noticed time and again that we have surprisingly vague and unrealistic ideas about what “happiness” actually is and how we can achieve it. The next chapter attempts to answer these questions in the Meconomy context.
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