Judge Smails: .. There's a lot of...well, badness in the world today. I see it in court every day… The most important decision you can make right now is what you stand for- goodness...or badness.
Danny: I've made some mistakes in the past. I'm willing to make up for that. I want to be good!
- From my favorite movie, Caddyshack
Can you tell what book I have been reading? Yes, Groundswell. This will be the third blog post I mention it – and I doubt it will be the last. But what can I say? It is such a great book about social media, everyone at Flightpath is reading it for our inaugural book of the month club.
I was in HS when George Bush, Sr., uttered that the United States would become "a kinder and gentler nation." In his Inaugural Address he pledged in "a moment rich with promise" to use American strength as "a force for good."
Well, fast forward to 2009, we are taking back our nation, shaking things up a bit and doing some good thanks to the social media explosion some have refered to as the “groundswell.”
In Groundswell, Bernoff and Li talk about emotional motivation for the use of social media. Specifically, on page 61 they discuss the “altruistic impulse” to participate in groups on line.
100 pages later, when trying to explain why thousands of people are helping each other (for free) at dellcommunity.com, they call it Psychic Income. Reminds my of my dear friend and mentor, Cliff Medney who has been taking about psychological capital for years.
Sometimes, it’s hard for number crunchers to understand how to track activity in the groundswell or to connect the dots to sales at retail. But there is more going on here.
There is a great example of this psychic income being played out here in NYC with an exciting Brand with good acts that leverages this notion of psychic income. Be Kind has created a program the taps into the idea of doing kind acts. I met them at the Fancy Food Show and they gave me a cool “You’ve been KINDed” card that gives me permission to do something nice for someone beyond common courtesy.
That very same day, while on my way to the Javits Center, I offered to help a young lady carry one of her three bags up the steps at the times square train station. I was sort of shocked when she rejected my offer, since she seemed to be struggling so much with these three large bags. Well, Natalie Gourvitch at Kind Snacks has solved that problem.
With the card, I can offer the card and say, “I’d like to help,” then you can pay this kindness forward. And the cool thing is at Kinded.com the person you gave the card to can anonymously tell the story.
Last time I checked there were about 500 random acts of kindness tracked on Kinded.com. We need more of that in this world, especially in times like these. We need to help eachother. And maybe next time I see that young lady with all those bags she’ll let me give her a hand.
