Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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June 30, 2008

Listening to Crowds — Gathering Wisdom One at a Time

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:57 am

The Wisdom of Crowds

relationships button

It’s only human nature to want to name things. Names are the first step to a definition. A definition is the first step to knowledge. Knowledge leads to understanding.

Yet the names we choose can limit our thinking as much as they shape it.

Writers, Readers, Teachers, Sales Reps, Users, Customers, Marketer, Bloggers, Vendors, Workers, Managers, Employees . . .

All of those words refer to people. Individuals grouped together as a crowd.

The wisdom crowds is the aggregate of independent decisions by the individuals who form the crowds. To get the whole story when we listen, we need to the group, but we also need to listen one at a time.

Gathering Wisdom One at a Time

To get the rich context and detail, we have to listen to individuals talking — not a whole group shouting. Every person has a different story. In those stories are the reasons people care; why tell their friends about us or move on by. Individual views and experiences put the heart in the data.

People share wisdom one at time.

To listen actively, picture the person and the experience, and consider questions like these . . .

You get the idea. If we hear — really hear — individual stories, we can sort to find the universal truths we share.

Would you tell me a listening story that you’re thinking of right now?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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2 Comments to “Listening to Crowds — Gathering Wisdom One at a Time”

  1. June 30th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
    Whitney said

    Okay, I’ll take first crack.

    I recently attended a networking event where I met a man between jobs. (His bread-and-butter telecommuting job had fallen victim to corporate cutbacks). He has a specialty in a tight niche in the larger field of corporate communications. He had feelers out, had gotten some mini-projects to help fill time with.

    WHAT’S SURPRISING. Although he has the core skills to work in another niche (one that’s easier to find work in at the moment), he won’t take jobs in that niche. “It’s too early,” he said, “to veer off course.” His specialty has kept him employed for 20 years, even through previous economic crises, and he believes it will carry him through now.

    WHAT CAN BE LEARNED THAT A LOT OF US FORGET. I see a lot of people grab at anything they remotely have the skill to do…often not fully considering if they’re skilled enough in X, or if they really even like doing X. They just grab at it, and then 3 years later look up and realize that the stop-gap solution became something that took them permanently off their previous course. Too often, they grabbed too soon…not giving their strengths/specialties time to prove that they can keep them afloat.

    THE MESSAGE. Strengths/specialties will sustain us, when given room and time to do so. In economic conditions where people grab at anything, where people with shallow & rudimentary skill sets try to pass themselves off as experts to the unwitting, staying true to our path and strengths will help us stand out.

  2. June 30th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Great listening story, Whitney.
    Thank you for taking the time to share it here.

    The message is clear and strong and it fits with the theme of the day.

    I so like this point. . . . Strengths/specialties will sustain us, when given room and time to do so.

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