Culture 2.0: the end of Arrogance
The most interesting political battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton illustrates a clash between social cultures that mirrors how Web 2.0 and social networking are flattening social hierarchies:
Penn and the Clintons set about slicing up the electorate into the "small forces behind tomorrow's big changes" that Penn described in his 2007 book Microtrends. They then devised policies and personas to try to appeal to each one -- only to watch dumbfounded as their microtrend sandcastles were washed away by the macrotrend tidal wave of the Obama campaign.
The microtrend vs macrotrend dynamic reminds me of Isaiah Berlin's division of mankind into hedgehogs and foxes. He took his imagery from a line in an ancient Greek poem by Archilochus: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
According to Berlin, the fox will "pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory, connected, if at all, only in some de facto way." This stands in sharp contrast to the hedgehog's "all embracing...unitary inner vision."
Based on the way the '08 campaign has played out, Democratic voters are showing signs of deep fox fatigue -- sick and tired of foxy triangulating, foxy slicing-and-dicing of the message, and foxy shifts in presentation. Voters want real change -- not daily changes in approach and messaging.
| Paradigm | Culture 1.0 | Culture 2.0 |
| Politics | Culture of hierarchy | Culture of accessibility |
| Methodology | Microtrend
messaging - create separate campaigns for different constituencies and
hope contradictory messaging isn't exposed. This is "politics as usual". | Macrotrend messaging - develop unified messaging to the masses. Stay on an unwavering course builds a platform of integrity. |
| Marketing | Top
down from party elders, super-delegates, old guard, etc. Barrier is the
"top" people are just too few and often too busy to spread the word
consistently | Bottom up from the masses. Over 1,000,000 have
contributed to Obama's campaign, and the masses are coordinating the
viral message and building the "momentum" so often associated with this
campaign. |
| Implicit message | "What are you going to do for me?" Culture of arrogance | "Let's work together" Culture of abundance |
| Psychological effect | The
new consumer mentality is uneasy with institutions, businesses and
people who hold unilateral or oppressive power over them. Think
cellular providers, Microsoft, the Bush administration's mandate to
throw precious funding at an unpopular war. Better alternatives become
godsends to the new consumer. | The new consumer now can
find, adopt and virally market alternatives that provide the benefits
without the arrogance. Obama has proven the masses are ready to adopt
social networking and grassroots marketing to further "change" |
| Real estate professional marketing method | "Hire me because of my vaunted knowledge of real estate, I'll do these
things for you." | "Hire me and we'll work together, we'll collaborate to buy or sell your home". This is much more comfortable for the new consumer. |
Funny comment: "I wouldn't hire Hillary as my Realtor either"
I wouldn't hire Hillary as my Realtor either! The culture of arrogance is dead and the web has sounded the death bells, taking power from the arrogant and delivering it to the people. This same transition has been happening in many industries and real estate tops the list.
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Would you please, please, please stop creating excellent and highly linkable content? It's getting really old.
Seriously, another great post that, yes, we have linked to. I like the whole Culture 2.0 idea. It's really where companies claiming to be "Web 2.0" need to do. Heck, it's where we all need to be as company owners of some kind.
This also does explain why Obama is so popular. Hillary is definitely 1.0 in her thinking (arrogance is never a turn-on). 2.0 is where you need to be. That even shows up in Obama's allure with young people who are actually voting this time around. In the past, Dems have been able to inspire the youth vote with their concerts, etc., but they've failed to get them to the polls (where it all counts). Obama's different in this regard.
Corporate America needs to wake up to this.
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While I certainly get the point, be careful of the example. Of the four contests this evening, 1.0 looks to outright win two, and is too close to call on one of the others.
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Arrogance and 3am phone calls works! But the cultural changes that mirror Web 2.0 culture are in solid evidence...
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Love the Web 2.0 World. We have created a Real Estate 2.0 company, called Bug! Realty. If you look at the article on inman.com, you can see that the average Real Estate Agent is NOT ready for Real Estate 2.0. The live the day of Arrogance and Hierarchy with regards to information and accessibility. We are approachable and consumer friendly. It seems to be foreign to "old school" real estate agents. Check out the article on inman.com. Or, our blog at www.bugrealtyblog.com. Nice site! Kevin Seney, Founder & CEO, Bug! Realty USA, Inc.
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Bravo! Invite me to your Napa gathering March 7!
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Hi to alls
It is a good post and I really like it.Obama and Mrs Clinton is two good participate in these elections. This is very tough compitition.
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I wasn't around the real estate industry when 1.0 was in full force, and I'm thankful for that. I can't see my business functioning following a me-centric model - it's just not...me. May more agents grasp the togetherness of 2.0 soon.
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