Book 299 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: Everything for Everyone!

Book – The Long Tail: Why the future of business is selling less of more by Chris Anderson (Part 2 of 2)

Book Description:

Our world is being transformed by the Internet and the near limitless choice that it provides to consumers; tomorrow's markets belong to those who can take advantage of this. The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance, an entirely new model for business that is just starting to show its power as unlimited selection reveals new truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it. The record business has been transformed by iTunes and Rhapsody; a similar transformation is coming to just about every industry imaginable.

Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, first explored "The Long Tail" in an article that has become one of the most influential business essays of our time. Using the worlds of movies, books, and music, he showed how the Internet has made possible a new world in which the combined value of modest sellers and quirky titles equals the sales of the top hits. He coined the term "The Long Tail" to describe this phenomenon, a phrase that's since appeared in boardrooms and media around the world.

Reflection:

Every person is unique!

From our internal DNA to our lived experience that shapes what we care about in this world and shapes the narrative of their lives, every person has an underlying code to their humanity that is all their own.

This unique underlying code manifests itself into this world as our outward expression of actions through our unique values that have accrued over a lifetime. While we may be 100% unique, everything that we do isn’t 100% unique and we also will naturally share tiny pieces of commonalties with other people in this world as we navigate our reality.

Those “uncommon commonalities” as Adam Grant calls them in his book Originals are the primary basis for how we form meaningful connections with other people in this world. As Robert Chialdini shares in his book Influence, “Similarity literally draws people together”.

With this in mind, this is where life really gets fun because the possibilities of connection with others in this world is truly endless. If you know yourself well enough, and I mean really know yourself well enough, I’ve found it so easy these days to really “get to know” people and unlock a meaningful connection within a single conversation. By listening to how they describe what they care about most and then quickly trying to connect the dots quickly to my own unique values, almost every single time I can find one of those uncommon commonalities and draw this out.

With this meaningful connection in place, we have the kindling to maybe start a meaningful relationship. If you both mutually agree to want to continue to mine that uncommon commonality deeper…you just may find yourself deep into a meaningful work project together down the road that produces something of far greater combined value than you could have ever made on your own.

In the Venn Diagram of life, there is truly something that you can connect with every single person in this world if you listen hard enough and understand yourself well enough.

That is the underlying principle of The Long Tail in my opinion. There is always something unique to offer anyone in this world if you can find a way to connect the dots.

That is the mission of ClubAny, to help build a culture of understanding people’s unique values, connecting the dots to form meaningful relationships, and ultimately produce meaningful work together!

Tapping into the long tail of values will produce some of the most unique cultures and meaningful work that this world has every seen. It will be a sight to behold if we can get there.

Question: How are you leveraging your values to find your tribe?

---

Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Long Tail by Chris Anderson