Goodness And Happiness

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At the recent Future of Journalism conference that the Guardian ran (an internal conference that they generously blogged about), Jeff Jarvis gave a talk on the 10 questions news organisations should be asking now. One of the questions is "Are we generous?". Generosity, says Jeff, can take many forms - sharing, supporting, enabling.  One of Jeff's most quotable quotes is "do what you do best and link to the rest" - drawing away from the control model of media 1.0 to one in which the intention and execution is altogether more altruistic.

John Naughton makes a similar point when he quotes the man that got him into blogging, Dave Winer: "The way to make money on the internet is to send them away". Why? Because "people come back to places that send them away." His point, and Jeff's point, is that the web is counter-intuitive. The more links you share, the more you send people away, the more they come back. The more open you are, the more useful you can be, the more they come back. In part, it's what Eaon has called (in the comments to this post) "creating value through content", and it expresses how the value equation is changing, something I've talked more about here.

But I think this speaks of a greater truth. An insight applicable to all brands, not just media brands. Generosity is not only a viable business model, it's the only game in town. The more generous you are, the more interesting you are (with everything you do), the more they come back.

The web is people connected and all media is becoming social. Brands are immersed in what Mark calls a "behavioural soup" where, to quote David, "small, very human, interactions make all the difference." Media becomes a mass of social interaction governed by social principles. Principles like you get back what you give. As Paul says:

"The more good things you do for people, the more of your thinking and ideas that you share, and the more you help people out, the more good things will come back to you"

Generosity is no longer a luxury in brand strategy. I'm not talking about CSR. I'm not talking about good customer service. And it's about more than just being useful. Being useful is one thing. Being generous is something else entirely. Generous thinking has to run through the organisation. Benevolence has a new power in business. It can power company morale, make your company attractive to work for, provide talkability, help people feel affinity for your business. But best of all it can provide direction and a framework for your decision making - your instinct is always to do whatever is best for your customers.

Being generous is about exceeding expectations. At every touchpoint. Making people happy. And happiness is not a bad thing to base your business on. It's the kind of thing where you end up saying "they didn't have to do that". The kind of thing we intuitively know every brand should be doing yet so rarely happens. And ironically, as we move into leaner times, there has never been a better time to be generous. It doesn't have to be expensive - Amazon's customer reviews add lots of value but cost very little. It doesn't have to be difficult - like the credit card company calling you up before they levy a late payment charge like mine did the other day. It has its own rewards - happy people talk about what makes them happy. Sounds obvious? Why aren't more companies doing it?

Perhaps I sound a touch naiive in my take on this but you know what? I don't care. I may be an old hippy but I also think this makes a whole lot of sense.

Comments

[david cushman]

Not naiive, human. With you on this Neil. Even computer simulations of human behaviour get this: tit-for-tat consistently proves the most successful strategy. Treat customers well, you get lots of goodness back. Treat them badly: tit-for-tat.
Fantastically outward-link-laden post to make your point beautifully, too!

[david cushman]

BTW, you've given me a great (though labour intensive) idea. My blog is about to break the 100 barrier on technorati (I think my nose might bleed...) and when (if?) it does I'm going to celebrate by writing a post that links to everyone who has linked to me over the past years. There I've written it. Hold me to it!
The first thing I'll do is link to this post to credit you for the inspiration!

[facu]

excellent post. im tagging it. should put up something about this in my blog soon. btw i´m working on a campaign at the moment for a tech company and last month they approved an idea that has to do a lot with what you´ve said. i worked hard on it, but now comes the hardest part, making it happen. soon as i have a green light i´d love to share it with you.
cheers.

[neilperkin]

David - thanks. That's a lovely idea.

Facu - interested to hear about that

[eaon pritchard]

Loving this Neil.
You are touching on the notion of dynamic interdependance (a key Buddhist thingy btw - more fuel to your inner hippy!). Slowly but surely industry is realising that they are responsible not to just investors/shareholders but to the communities they exist in (and the future of those communities) and not just by profit but by service to the earth etc.
Theres another whole can of globalisation worms to be opened around this topic too.
PS honoured to be linkety-linked in such a thoughtful article. nice one.

[Will]

The best brands are definitely generous. Those who get a kicking aren't. Sounds a little like PR 101, but I'm continually amazed as to how many brands have no idea about the basics.

I think Richard had a nice post about this:

http://www.adliterate.com/archives/2007/04/please_live_gen.html

[neilperkin]

Eaon - with you on the globalisation thing. Can of worms alright.
Will - cheers. I missed that one so will take a look

[zeroinfluencer]

To quote from the movie Kung Fu Panda:-

The past is a history,
The future is a mystery,
But today is a gift - that's why they call it the present.

(I saw it last night, it's fun!)

@eaon
Carpe diem is global community currency waiting to be invested in.

[katy]

Amen to that - fantastic post.As much as clients and brand managers would love to think that their brand proposition is enough of a reward in and of itself for consumers, the brand contract depends on you making it worth my time for me to share my valuable time with you. Make it worth my while. Give me something back, earn my respect. I definitely don't think generosity is naive - rather it's extremely sensible commercial strategy! Do as you would be done by, give your consumer what they want and something else that they didn't know they wanted, and reap the rewards

[R N B]

Good stuff. It's so obvious but so important that the web so actively encourages co-operation, and you've summarised it very well.

[neilperkin]

David - nice :)

Katy - nicely put

Thanks Ranaban

[Henry Chilcott]

Nice post.

The bit at the beginning reminded me of something I heard from Aki Spicer - the shift from 'sticky' to slippy':

http://henrychilcott.typepad.com/henrychilcott/2008/05/sticky-to-slipp.html

[neilperkin]

Sticky to Slippy. Like that. Thanks Henry

[fiony]

that is interesting!

[david cushman]

added that list as promised!