Meconomy. Markus Albers

as Google puts it in its corporate slogan: “Don’t be evil.” The more rapidly online interaction between market participants gains momentum, the less it pays off to act in an immoral, uncooperative, and exploitative way, as the cost of such actions increasingly outweighs the benefits. Jarvis: “When people can talk with, about, and around you, screwing them is no longer a valid business strategy.”

      You have to position yourself in a distinct way. “Our online shadows become our identities,” says Jarvis. “To stand out from our crowd, we need distinct identities.” You have to become your own brand, an expert, someone who represents something. For this purpose, you don’t have to become a quantum physicist or an opera star. Being known for less grandiose things or being an expert within a small group of people works just as well: Just think of someone who always repairs the heaters of his neighbors, ex-teachers who show others how to work computers, people offering pottery courses or drum lessons, mothers arranging playgroups, or someone who is really good at organizing parties – all of them are experts. However, you should carefully consider whether you want to be known for your professional qualifications or for your passions. You might be able to separate both online identities from each other: professional banker on Xing, rock guitarist on MySpace. Happy people manage to combine both – which brings us to the last point.

      Do things. A clerk who meticulously files documents won’t become famous for that – neither will it add to his profile as an expert or to a portfolio that distinguishes him from others. We don’t know which documents Franz Kafka worked on as an insurance clerk, but we know his novels, short stories, and letters. Fortunately, standard processes are increasingly being automated or outsourced today. This doesn’t mean that all of us should become novelists now. However, it is certainly legitimate to ask: What achievements or what “body of work” would you like to look back on at the end of your life? “The internet doesn’t make us more creative,” writes Jarvis. “Instead, it enables what we create to be seen, heard, and used. It enables every creator to find a public, the public he or she merits.” Before we move on to this last aspect, I want to make clear that “creating” does not exclusively refer to arts, music, or dancing. Setting up a business, delivering engineering services, or imparting knowledge to others can be highly creative processes. It doesn’t matter how “valuable” a product or an idea is – what matters is that you create it.

      Become the Leader of Your Own Tribe

      Seth Godin is an advocate of this new way of thinking. The marketing expert, entrepreneur, and book author belongs to the few who are able to pinpoint what exactly is different about the new economic order that I refer to as the Meconomy in this book. In 2009, Godin coined the term “tribes” to describe the networks of relations between individuals. Tribes have always existed: The inhabitants of a small town formed a tribe, same as, e.g., athletes in Thuringia or the members of the Hamburg branch of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. In these old tribes, geography still played a crucial role.

      The Internet has eliminated these geographic barriers. Today, an unlimited number of tribes exist parallel to each other, small and big ones, horizontal and vertical ones. All of us are members of many more tribes than in the past – tribes that we form with those who we work, travel, or shop with, who we discuss politics with, who we show our photos to, who like the same music, or who share cooking recipes with us. We have an ever-growing number of tools available to organize membership in these tribes and to connect with other members: Facebook and Xing, Twitter and Basecamp, e-mails and websites.

      According to Godin’s theory, all of these tribes are looking for leaders – and you could be one of those leaders. The best thing, however, would be to create your own tribe. Yet what purpose, topic, or product would that tribe be about? In order to answer this question, you will have to do some serious soul-searching, asking yourself: What is it that I really want? What am I passionate about? What am I dying to do? The answer should become the topic of your tribe.

      –> Your interest in chocolate makes you want to know everything about it and to share your knowledge with others? The same applies to Holger in’t Veld. That’s why he established his “Schokoladen” shop in Berlin where he sells high-quality cocoa products. He also opened a café, produces his own chocolate, and wrote a book called “Schokoladenrebellen” (“Chocolate Rebels”). In’t Veld used to work as a music journalist – today, he has gathered a tribe of chocolate connoisseurs around him. This illustrates that the tribal approach certainly isn’t restricted to online business models. Still, by definition, they seem to work better, as is shown in the following case.

      –> Your granny is really great at crocheting and you have some wacky designs that the old lady could crochet? This is what Manfred Schmidt earns his living with, selling potholders with skulls 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.