On "1000 Fans" Climate Influence

I’ve been thinking about how the term “influence” has been co-opted by the idea that only movie stars, rock stars and Instagram celebrities have it. And, how, if you don’t have a million plus followers, what are you even doing? We simply must define influence for ourselves, for this cause.

In climate influence, there is true power in how leaders build and make authentic connections with a much smaller number of people - their peers, collaborators and maybe some competitors. To be clear: it’s not really something a communications staffer can do on your behalf. But, the potential impact of committing to building those relationships, and ultimately being able to gently nudge more of them into climate action too, is massive.

I’d definitely argue that it’s worth tending to, ASAP.

Here’s the Kevin Kelly 1000 True Fans blog post I reference in my audio post, and the quote in it that applies to niche climate influence:

Now here’s the thing; the big corporations, the intermediates, the commercial producers, are all under-equipped and ill suited to connect with these thousand true fans. They are institutionally unable to find and deliver niche audiences and consumers.

The corporate and organizational entity are too big, they are ill-suited to connect with stakeholders on any level. What one intentional individual leader can do, x 100 of you, is the gold. We need to build a strong, active bench.

When you are ready for that catalyzing, high-level, mindset shift - and can handle how quickly that will boost your leadership presence online and off - let me know.

Talk with you again soon. (I love audio!)

You know where to find my Living Change climate leadership podcast and more of my content/social networks in the meantime.