Transcending Titles: Becoming the Leader People Want to Follow

In First Democracy, Paul Woodruff describes the Athenian democracy; a society where representatives were chosen by lottery rather than election and every man had the same right to speak in the legislative Assembly. This practice must have made the first days of the new Assembly somewhat chaotic, since a leadership figure during the last session may not even be a part of the Assembly this time around, no matter what his prominence or popularity was. In such situations rhetors could “exert special influence without holding public office, simply in virtue of their speaking abilities” (33). This may also be the case in the evolving world where Woodruff hopes the Internet will “grow to give the citizens of modern states a rough equivalent of the rights of ancient Athenians to speak and be heard” (68). How then must a person communicate in the modern world to be able to lead a group of people in a certain direction?

In A Rhetoric of Motives Kenneth Burke writes, “A is not identical with his colleague, B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A is identified with B. Or he may identify himself with B even if their interests are not joined, if he assumes that they are or is persuaded to believe so” (544). The act of identification is not physical, since A and B remain separate entities with separate experiences, rather this is a symbolic act. As Burke points out, A has to be persuaded that he has joined interests with B in order for identification to occur. This implies that in order to get people to follow him, a leader has to communicate a common interest with his audience, and thereby create an artificial unity from diversity. Woodruff explains how Cleocritus was able to unite followers of the tyrants and the democrats by appealing to their common interests and culture as Athenians (83). In a more diverse group of people a leader may appeal to ‘basic humanity’ like Obama, Cameron, and Sarkozy did in their internationally published opinion editorial about Libya. However, identification does not always rely upon pre-existing ties of fellowship. Effective leaders are able to create common interests where none may naturally exist. One way to do this is by articulating a vision which, although not initially of interest to the audience, is made interesting by the way it is described and linked with pre-existing interests. In Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games Mitt Romney describes the task of leadership as “creating a vision of higher purpose and . . . offering challenges beyond normal expectations” (xix). He writes this about his leadership in the 2002 Olympics, “Our task was to identify a defining vision, communicate that in a compelling way, and provide the kind of focus that reinforces that vision as a living, breathing thing, not just lip service. And if we were to succeed, it would be because of the commitment to that vision by the entire team, and by the community” (xix). It is interesting to note that without that shared vision highly qualified people will not follow you, even in a corporate setting (59-60). As Romney writes, “Leaders establish vision and values that motivate and create unity of purpose” (20), again it is the ‘vision’ or common interest that creates a group.   

                

Romney’s language describing the unifying vision as a “higher purpose” sounds similar to the kind of leadership we encounter in Plato’s Phaedrus where leadership is not simply exploiting base interests to gain power over people, “dispensing miserly benefits of a mortal kind” (38), but rather a transcending process which brings both leader and follower closer to the gods. This transcendence is at once altruistic and egoistic. One gets personal benefit not by satisfying base passions (the black horse) but by summoning one’s abilities to reach a new, higher level. As Socrates says, “they become winged and light, and have won one of their three submissions in these, the true Olympic games, and neither human sanity nor divine madness has any greater good to offer a man than this” (37-38). It seems the human mind possesses a special potentiality to be fascinated and persuaded by such transcending, perhaps partially because of the great desire we have to experience the sense of purpose and unity such transcending can bring. We are united in something greater than ourselves.

See how composer Eric Whitacre leads a virtual choir of 2000 singers from 58 countries all over the world by unifying them in the transcendent purpose of making beautiful music. These singers have never met Whitacre or each other, yet they are united in a common purpose. He wrote the music and articulated the vision, and they all contributed their parts on individual Youtube videos which together became something transcendent.

The New Media Masters in an Economy of Attention

As I mentioned in "Why Social Media Means a Social Revolution" new media has radically changed the information flow in our society. Rather than the increasingly hierarchical structures of mainstream media we are now seeing a picture that is more messy and unpredictable than the media landscape has been for decades. Aristotle said that giving power to the people was a way of giving power to those who could persuade the people. Who will gain the power to persuade the people in this new media age? What will be the common denominators of those who will able to gain a large enough audience to have considerable influence on public opinion? Here are a few of my predictions:

Seducing the Audience

Douglas Hesse, a professor in rhetoric and composition, describes how our idea of publication and readership has changed: "The world of blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos, and even old-fashioned Web pages ensures that writing will be made public—just not that it will be read. Updating familiar terms from two decades past, we’ve gone from audience addressed, through audience invoked, to audience imagined and seduced." Virtually everyone now can publish and gain a readership. Unlike the channels of mainstream media and the academic world there are no gate-keepers online to decide what will or will not get published and read. There are over 200 million blogs online today! And they are stealing large portions of the market that used to be dominated by a few media giants. We live today in what Richard Lanham calls "The Economics of Attention". If you can catch the eyes of people and get clicks and pageviews, you gain influence, chances to sell advertising, and your ideas can lead to real action. In other words, attention is the new currency! If you can get someone to read you and listen to you, you will make a difference, no matter what other media giants or traditional gatekeepers of knowledge may think of it.

So how does this new generation of writers seduce an audience to follow them? In the economy of attention this is a major question not only for writers, but for politicians, economists, educators, and virtually anyone who wants to have something to say about how this new world is going to look like. The common denominator is "you have to make them want what you have". The first thing that will go in such an economy is circumscribed readerships. Newspapers, television stations, and writers will meet increasing competition for attention, and people will get used to shopping around much more. Even the largest actors will not be able to simply rely on the same old readers and audience that they have had for a long time.

Burke's Theory of Literary Form

Kenneth Burke defined literary form as the arousing and fulfilling of expectations. We all know this from fiction books. If the cover and title doesn't get you, what is the chance you'll even pick it up? If the first chapter doesn't get you, why would you want to keep reading? The title and cover arouses expectations for the content in the book. If those expectations are not fulfilled we often feel cheated or snubbed. Richard Lanham refers to this as "making attention structures from the stuff of language". There can be thousands of methods to accomplish this, visual design, music, slogans, humor, the list goes on. However, the premise is the same: There has to be a promise at the beginning that there is something you want at the end of the road, a taste to wet your appetite, a glimpse to awaken your imagination. Professional authors know this very well. Unless the reader is persuaded to in some way identify with the authors views, narrative and characters, the text will be lifeless to the reader.

Give the People What They Want

Burke's literary form answers the question of how to communicate powerfully, yet in the end it is the form and not by itself all the content of communication. A writer may be brilliant at catching our attention and keeping it riveted throughout a book, but we still feel empty after we have finished the book. This really brings us to the question, what do people want? Entertainment industry have been obsessed with this forever, and the easy answer would be to play on the basest desires of mankind: sex, violence, and cheap pleasures. The first years of the Internet was witness of this approach, with pornography quickly becoming the number one online activity. However, as the Internet has evolved we have witnessed how the full range of human desires and needs have opened new areas of discourse and influence. Social networking has now far surpassed pornography as the leading online activity, showing that human is more of a social creature than a sexual one. Another area that has exploded is genealogy, which has seen an unpresedented growth. What is it that makes people want to know about their ancestors? What human need does it fulfill? It seems clear to me that simply appealing to base needs will not do in the long run.

I don't know who the masters and champions of this new media world will be. Millions are currently contending for our attention to have a say in the creation of tomorrows trends, movements, and opinions. What I can say is that these channels or people will have some things in common

1. They must know what people really want

2. They must have ability to communicate effectively to convice people that they can help them to get it

The following discussion is long, but I recommend it for any who has the time

The Economics of Attention by design mind