6:53 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Maintaining the Movement

I told a colleague today that I was participating in this BlogJam and she replied that she long ago let her subscription lapse. When I probed a bit she said Fast Company no longer felt like a movement was being created. Now it was just another magazine.

I know the past few years in the magazine industry have been tough. And when I started seeing classified ads in the back of Fast Company, I must admit I felt like some referee needed to call a flag on the play.

While we can probably debate how people feel about Fast Company specifically, I’m thinking the more important question to consider how one sustains such a deeply felt (and authentic) sense of mission that people feel they are creating a movement, not just producing a product... whatever their product may be. And how do you extend the boundaries of your organization so that your customers and stakeholders feel like important contributors to this movement as well?

Not every product will inspire such passion, nor should every business see itself as creating a movement. But for those who do, how do we keep the embers burning over long periods of time?