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Influencers are Always Hungry
An influencer generally leads from a position of curiosity and passion. It is not a surprise that the leading trait of an influencer is her desire to know more for herself. She intentionally looks to discover the effects of human interaction on an environment, not just on the surface but deep inside. She desires to understand that which makes people behave in certain ways.
An understanding of her world allows her to formulate opinions and provide leadership. Often that leadership dwells on long after the influencer passes from the earth.
In ancient Greece, as the story is told, was a man who was a mathematician and philosopher. In the early days of recorded human history, thinkers were putting together the pieces of science, philosophy and math discovering then what we take for granted today.
This man spent time studying philosophy and math, outcast often among his peers. He was the ancient example of a modern day nerd, perhaps socially awkward, yet passionate about one area of his studies: math.
“They are intentionally looking to discover the effects of human interaction on an environment, not just on the surface but deep inside.”
Later in his life, he would teach math in Alexandria, Egypt, often studying and writing in the Great Library, passing on his passion to his community of scholars, yet ruthlessly pursuing the object of his passion that would lead him to compile a 13 volume work called The Elements. This compilation, as history tells us, became the thesis and proof of geometry and explained the relationships between angles, shapes and even irrational numbers.
Euclid was never known as a leader, per se. However, it is clear that geometry is a cornerstone of our science today. As an influencer, he explained and proved the concepts that would allow the military to make precision strikes against enemies in Afghanistan, civil engineers to design bridges across rivers, scientists to place satellites in a stable orbit around the earth and electrical engineers at Intel to design faster and faster chips and processors for our computers.
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I doesn’t take much skill/ talent/ ability to be a celebrity any more- but to be an influencer, or to actually make an impact on the people around you takes much more skill and finesse.
I do a few things to try to keep my own little brand identity- I use the same “handle” or screen name on every site i use, and I try to use the same profile picture, and recently I was recognised at a local blog meetup- and I feel that there is value in doing all these things- but I am working on becoming more of an influencer moving forward.
At some point I decided I’d rather be the guy with something valuable to add to the community, than the guy with 3 million hits on a youtube video where I wreck a 4-wheeler.
Arron,
It is a rare where I find a philosophy that closely mirrors mine. I see that some of traits mentioned are natural for me and a few I have to work on.
I congratulate you on a very well written blog (article); one that I’ll be proud to refer to my kindred friends.
Ed
Aaron,
I have to agree with what Ed said. It’s truly a great article, and I am spreading it out to everyone I know. Good job!
Excellent. Off to go link it on WW.
Great observations, I enjoyed the blog.
Cool. Thanks for the insight. “It’s been said, even, that character is what we are when no one is looking.” – outrageous but true.
Aaron,
Fantastic stuff. Timeless and timely. I’ll add a link on my blog, because I think folks in my biz, local television news, could use a refresher on engaging people. We’ve been taught for so long (entire careers for some) that we do our thing, and the audience will always be there. It’s not anymore. You need, as you suggest, to offer something to people.
Thanks again for sharing your insight.
Mark
To quote the great philosopher Bono: “This is just f*cking brilliant.”
Mark: Thank you, sir.
Andrew: That is why I love Bono.
Great observation! Good stuff, Aaron.
Great points, I agree completely.
I made it through the whole article and it was very informative. I am pretty energized by it and look forward to your keynote at IZEAFest. You really took your time and crafted a well thought out article with some great points. I have yet to read Dale Carnegie’s book, I started once but didn’t get too far, I think it is time to try again.
This is a very insightful paragraph:
“To be an influencer, you’re going to have to balance that self brand, personal marketing for the sake of being known with providing absolute, unquestioned value to the greater community. Carrying the mantle of an influencer means being a celebrity for the community. It means always giving of yourself so that the rest of the crowd benefits. It’s almost self-sacrificial, flying in the face of personal brand or celebrity.”
This phenomenon is due to human biology and social habits, every day our actions and thoughts are derived from others around and before us. Intellectuals are followers of previous intellectuals and commoners are followers of popular figures. However, one cannot say that we are brainless, but rather we belong to a massive network making up an overall societal “mind”. We never truly die, we each have significant effects on society that ripple and cascade endlessly.
Well done! I have been writing “traditionally” for some time and just recently joined the social media world. It can get a bit disheartening for those new to the scene to feel that they are competing with someone with 3,000 followers. Thank you for helping put all of this into perspective in a sound, academic article. I will certainly be sharing this with others.