I often tell people that my mission is to ‘help regular people do great things‘. I am very clear on what this mission means to me, but recently I have begun to think about the components of doing great things that are universal.
My working hypotheses is that:
Regular people do great things when they have a big idea and build a tribe around it.
You need a big idea to inspire your tribe.
You need your tribe to spread the idea.
The two are symbiotic.
Sometimes you are not exactly sure what your big idea is – but you can clearly see a tribe forming around your contributions.
Other times, you have a burning idea but don’t know how to spread that idea – your tribe hasn’t formed yet.
In both instances, it is important to have a ‘homebase’ that is easily accessible to your tribe even when you are not physically present.
It is also important for you to provide different levels of engagement with your idea – most people will not be able to digest the vastness of your idea on first blush – but after slowly consuming your contributions over time, the idea will grow on them and they will become a member of your tribe.
So the first thing to discover if you want to spread your big idea is the vehicle or vehicles through which you will consistently give free gifts to your future tribe members.
It all starts with your generosity.