The First Person Revolution

In another otherwise enthusiastic review, Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge book review of More Space seem perturbed by the use of the first person in a business book (disclosure: my essay Marketing: What's Love Got to Do With It is in the book):

"Yes, some of the writing here is self-absorbed—the most used letter in the More Space alphabet is “I.” But the risk-taking with form and content ultimately pays off in a very readable, fresh, and insightful collection." - Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

"Hmm, mea maxima culpa on the I thing, " essayist Johnnie Moore humbly offers.

Whereas in my blog reading last week I spotted a more prevalent apology: Collected Miscellany blog apologizes for the opposite: "p.s. Sorry about the whole third person thing in the bios."

To evoke the spirit of blogging I wrote my essay in the first person on purpose (the entire collection is written by business bloggers).

But it goes further than that. It gets to the heart of the whole point that blogging's takeoff is underscoring to business today.

Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski says: "The traditional trick of literature is to obscure the writer, to express the story through a fabricated narrator describing a fabricated reality. But for me, what I have to say is validated by the fact that I was there, that I witnessed the event. There is, I admit, a certain egoism in what I write, always complaining about the heat or the hunger or the pain I feel, but it is terribly important to have what I write authenticated by its being lived." (via On Literary Journalism, aka "literature by foot", Canadian journalist)

In comments to Johnnie's post Paul Goodison says: "I would rather read something that honestly proclaims 'I tried this and it worked' than something that says 'this will work in every instance'."

The first person I. I is the fulcrum of a revolution. Direct, personal, intimate, tailored experience. And I to I experiences, rather than amorphous third-person to broadcast mass. From product samples to try-it-for-free-ad-supported Web 2.0 software (unofficial tagline: The Point is People) to the rise of personal memoirs to ethnography for customer insight to a culture of participation to "consumer"-generated content to Make to Ohmynews to blogging to person-to-person microfinancing to meetups to bespoked suits and more.

Rather than write another 10,000 word essay just now, here's a few morsels of what the first person trend signals (it won't be the last time I delve into this trend either):

• "The digital revolution seeks collective rituals, too, but it wants smaller venues that are more interactive, intense and tailored. Children of the digital culture want to be able to see, touch and dialogue with one another..." -  Taking the Church into the Digital Age, Charisma, Aug 2005
• "[M]ainstream media--outside of investigative journalism--is often about beautifully packaged, highly filtered points of view--as unique and distinctive as possible. The cost and effort involved in these products is often so great the idea of releasing assets--like so many red balloons--seems daunting. And yet the user-driven successes of the past few years--the slashdots, the flickrs, the wikipedias--show that the greatest access and therefore the greatest exposure--come from distributed, remixed content that's linked and distributed across the net--personalized to fit, if you will, everyone's individual experience of Web 2.0." - "Talking: The Distributed Web", Susan Mernit
• "In these uncertain times, people want to be more in control and more in charge of the world around them. To gain this control, there is a shift from consumption to creation. Certainly, this is clearly reflected in the number of television shows like Extreme Makeover and Pimp My Ride. These shows are all about making transformations in your life. What I find interesting is that these shows are about the viewers and not about a star. It's not about something you buy ready-made; it's about things that you have a part in creating. The idea is that everyone can be a creator. These shows reflect Richard Florida's point of view in hiss book The Rise of the Creative Class that a lot of people want to have a sense of creation rather than a sense of buying more packaged stuff." - interview with Michael Perman, senior director of consumer insights, Levi Strauss & Co in Spark: Be More Innovative Through Co-Creation by John Winsor (p.s. I don't think it's about control as much as living fully)
• "I remember watching a team of  archaelogists excavating  around Egypt's Temple of Hatshepsut.  More than watching, participating - sifting, finding shards of this and that.  I was not quite 13 at the time, but the impression was indelible,  and ancient Egypt still lives for me as it never would otherwise. It is moments such as this - unique, intimate, difficult to replicate  - that make for the best travel, and  life, memories." - Klara Glowczewska, editor-in-chief, Condé Nast Traveler, December 2005
• [And my favorite:] "Most people think they crave fame...when what they really crave is to be known." - Marilyn at California Fever

p.s. Yup, I know I'm preaching to the choir here. So get your friends that don't read blogs (yet) a copy of More Space to acquire a taste for blog reading and the first person revolution even while they read from a 1450's media format (or download a chapter's podcast) on the subway or the plane or while in line for their daily latte.

flickr photo by you like ashley | tag market research ethnography consumer insight travel customer insight marketing blogging social media citizen journalism web2.0 web 2.0 innovation trends

Comments

[Molly Gordon, MCC]

Okay. This rings several of my chimes.

DING: Is the 1st person trend a "revolution"? An evolution?

RIFF -- I suppose it can be neither, either, and/or both. Whether or not it is revolutionary to explicitly address or assert one's own point of view depends on context. It seems revolutionary to move from being embedded in one or another colletive reality toward autonomy.

It seems (to me) that coming from the "I" is evolutionary when growing autonomy involves moving toward a more complex (not complicated) set of perspectives. Yet, it is also true that coming from the "I" can be the hallmark of an adult behaving like a teenager (at best?) or infant (at worst?) with elaborate appetites and opinions.

DONG: First person for the sake of what? Coming from "I" for the sake of a more intimate connection with another, in order to establish a more accurate context for one's* point of view, or for the sake of a more im-mediate encounter with and account of one's experience is worlds apart from using "I" to arrogate power inappropriately, to pose as expert, or to fan the flames of narcissism. (who me?) And yes, one can accomplish power grabs, posturing, and self aggrandizement through the use of 3rd person.)

*(hmmm... does the pronoun "one," ostensibly a 3rd person pronoun, point subtly to a first person point of view?)

DING: It seems to me that 1p and TIME are inextricably related, not to mention capacity (emotional, spiritual, intellectual) for taking in multiple 1p perspectives, the skill to aggregate them in the pursuit of wisdom as opposed to data or even information. How we conceive of, experience, and "use" time is affected (even determined?) by our developmental attainments. Time to read blogs, time to learn to read blogs, the ability to notice that there might be a learning curve -- these and others depend on material, cognitive, and ego development -- three aspects of development that by no means proceed at the same pace.

DONG: Perhaps there is a distinction between the cultural implications of "I" in various domains and the social/systems implications. Culturally, I hesitate to applaud the "I" emergence. Yes, it can be a profound invitation to engagement, responsibility, creativity. However, unless we who take the I-road (I just can't help myself), inquire early and often into our motives and the results of our actions, the strengthening of "I" may proceed with the same sort of ethical and ecoological lag as technology. I'm not against it, just cautioning.

On the side of social and systems matters, the I perspective can be a call to a level of mature engagement that injects heart and intelligence at many nodes of our networked existence. A consummation devoutly to be wished. The I perspective can also be a means of bridging the high-touch/hi-tech gap. I've made some very good friends online, and my work has thrived in virtual media. Yet, again, a high degree of self awareness and disipline are required to animate the high tech relationships with blood and spirit. Since diving into cyberspace, I've also dived into cycling, paddle-boarding in Puget Sound, and meditation.

DING-DONG: I could go on (can you tell). But the real point of this comment is to say thank you for your provocative and intelligent voice. of course, that's just me saying that.

I didn't document my remarks as I play fast and loose with other people's ideas. Still, I should note my debt to Jenny Wade, Ken Wilber, Don Beck, Robert Kegan and Susann Cook-Greuter.