Seth Godin made a post in which he listed some of the following features of crowds:
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The crowd gets on its feet when your band plays the big hit, and sits down for the new songs….The crowd will always pick the movie over the book.
The crowd would rather wait in line for the popular attraction.
The crowd likes to be chased.
[…]
The crowd’s favorite words include fast, easy, cheap, fun, now and simple.
The crowd needs a deadline.
The crowd is the group of people who don’t get what you do, who loom on the horizon as the reward for making your work more popular.
And yet, the crowd continually gets more than it deserves, because people like you make work that matters. Work that you’re proud of.
Many of us can identify with that final line. We are under appreciated for the work we do in our communities.
It is important to remember, we too, are the crowd.
Most of these sentiments can apply to each of us as well in regard to that bakery, bookstore, school, fund raiser, festival, etc., that we think is really great but we don’t have the time, energy or opportunity to frequent as much as we would like. There are people who complain about our lack of engagement with them as much as we complain about theirs in regard to us.
I used to like to say, “Customers are idiots, I should know because I am one.” There is an incident that occurred at a Tesco in Ireland eight years ago that I am still not sure if I was being a stupid, clueless American or the employee was being inattentive. (I suspect I was being stupid and clueless regardless of nationality but there is room for doubt.)
It is impossible to be as attentive and have the same level of priorities as every struggling entity needs us to have. Working in the arts and non-profit sector, we are able to be a little more empathetic and mindful than most of the consequences our choices have on others.
As members of the crowd, we are also cognizant of the fact that it can be really difficult to inspire and motivate us contrary to our taste and priorities.
It is just that we forget that or wish it to be otherwise when it comes to other’s lack of investment in our work which is clearly better than they deserve.