As an introduction to what can be done with the practice of human persuasion and the “Art of War” by Sun Tzu, I will introduce you to a fictitious example of how an industry could be built. In this case, we’ll look at Global Sustainability as the industry.
You must have a very strong mission statement to guide everyone. One that can be used as a double edged sword against anyone trying to steal the reigns while still being a huge motivational goal for true participants. People will get behind something big, and will always dismiss small goals as unimportant. Large goals have room for everyone if they are well defined.
Sustainability defined:
“The ability to provide for the needs of people today without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves.”
This is the “common definition. It sets a low bar for success, and is sufficiently vague enough to allow mediocre people to set the standards and control the industry. It opens opportunities for corporations with no interest in sustainability to enter the marketplace and brand themselves as “sustainable”, because they meet the criteria stated above.
This is how amateurs manage an industry start. They create a vague definition that can include everyone without specifically stating a powerful goal, then they see who will appoint them king.
A better definition:
“Create a world where society has a positive impact on the planet and itself.”
Still sufficiently vague enough to include everyone from the beginner to the professional, but not so vague on the end result. The solution must produce a positive impact. That takes quite a bit more skill to accomplish than “zero footprint” does.
Mankind is at a place in its history where we have more knowledge than ever before. Our understanding of manufacturing, sciences, sociology, medicine, environmental sciences, construction methods, and all of the other great discoveries of the last 100 years that are now mature or at least maturing, all come together to make this possible. For the first time in thousands of years, we can actually have everything we want and need, and do not have to produce negative effects in the process of getting it.
Challenges in building the sustainability industry
Our biggest challenges are small thinkers and know-it-alls. These people are at all levels of society from the guy living in a box on the street to the lawmaker that refuses to do the right thing because his special interest buddies won’t benefit.
These people block the adoption of solutions with long-term impact. They create skepticism and fear in the population and actively prevent messages from being clearly assimilated by the people who need it the most.
Legislation must be modified to allow the adoption of sustainable technologies. Things like neighborhood covenants that outlaw solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal heat pumps, cool roofs, and other technological innovations that reduce resource demands are our first hurdles.
Special interests like the “Big 5 Automakers” block the population from enjoying cars that get between 125 and 225 mpg or more. They also block mass transit systems that would significantly reduce traffic and pollution and can actually be enjoyable to ride on.
To build an industry, you need to understand the obstacles. The most important thing to understand is that an industry is built in the minds of society long before the first marketing announcement is released. If you build the industry in the minds of people first, then the industry itself will build quickly and successfully. The nano-technology industry is one example of this.
Individuals
It is with the individual that we must start our long journey. First, who will we promote as experts to represent our new message? In a new industry, it is seldom a true industry expert just “shows up”. They are given specific industry and technology intelligence packets and instructed on exactly how to present the information contained in them. Each packet is designed to fulfill a single movement of the minds of the people to the next important conclusion.
Sure, rogue “Experts” show up. People that read a few white papers or maybe even a book written by one of our experts, but have no real experience or intelligence to support their claims. Strangely, it is the colleges and universities that seem to be near the first of these rogues that turn out. How someone that hasn’t worked outside of a school for over 20 years could think they know the needs of society amazes me. They are so used to being viewed as the “professor” or “teacher” that they take their role as a license to claim ownership to all knowledge – if they actually have some or not.
The trick is to keep the rogues from winning and taking over the control of the new industry. This is why I am so blunt about these engineers of obstruction. They lead a new industry away from its intended goals and waste millions (billions) of dollars spent by people with a sincere interest in the outcome, just so they can have their ego stroked or fill their pockets with pirate loot. A few hundred years ago, these people would be beheaded for their crimes. Today, we just give them a salary and job for life.
Once the groomed experts have established their foothold, we begin to identify who is a good fit for the role of industry participant. Specifically, what people or company staff members in key industries would make the best initial spokesmen for the new industry. The rewards here are huge. All of these initial roles make a person very wealthy.
Once those people are in place, we need to find enough value driven elements in the products or services of the industry to present to our initial adopters (customers) and then design a series of relationships with the providers of these goods or services so that the promise to our customers can be met. This is usually created through certification programs, membership organizations and advertising and public relations campaigns.
All of this creates an infrastructure within the emerging industry. Next, we need to expand our customer base to pay for all the work done so far.
Families
These may be biological families or groups of people with common beliefs. Usually fairly small groups in the beginning, these people will start to use our goods or services and share the results with other people. This produces something called “social matching.”
Social matching happens when one group of people see another group doing something and it inspires the new group to relate to the first group. The second group will adopt the habits of the first group because they feel safer since the first group is happily using the new thing. Done correctly, you can create a very loyal family of people that will play an instrumental role in the success of the new industry.
Communities
These are larger families. Think New York’s Italian sector, or China Town. These are communities where people are bonded by ethnic origin. A community can be a broader base though. Sustainable communities could be just as strong of a basis for gathering as ethnicity.
Some “Greenies” tried this with their commune homesteads. Unfortunately, they had too small of vision and adopted an us-versus-them mentality. That seldom produces anything other than disdain from those around them.
A sustainable community would share local garden produce (organically grown of course), would have professionals living in the community offering their services to the other community occupants at significantly reduced prices, and would work together as a body of people to make their neighborhood community the best it could be. This improves life for everyone in that community. A committee of people would serve the community as a steering body (not a management body) so that everyone could be kept informed of new technologies and opportunities that would benefit the whole community.
Municipalities
Municipalities are governed by bureaucrats and elected officials. They operate under unimaginably complex constraints imposed upon them by county, state and federal governments. They seldom can just make a change on its merits, and in many cases, it is the merits of the change that prevent it from being adopted. Their world is filled with regulations that prevent one municipality from getting the upper hand on another municipality. There are usually Municipalities that already have the upper hand and those with the upper hand will do anything to keep it. Dirty politics is commonplace.
Rome found out that this model is not sustainable, but America hasn’t figured that out yet. Free enterprise coupled with strong social and community focus build strong nations. When enterprises have the bigger concerns of the society as part of their daily business model, great things happen for everyone. People buy from companies they like and trust. In return the companies work hard to keep that position. Governments that work with enterprise and communities and focus on serving those needs quickly rise to heights seldom seen these days.
County and State government
I have a friend that compares politicians and employees of government bodies to pirates. The least harmful ones are found pumping the bilge. The most dangerous ones are standing behind the guy doing all the steering. The one in the background with the quiet voice.
Applied to county and state government, it kind of makes sense. Have you ever noticed how well one area develops when an area with better land and more potential remains seemingly a slum or forgotten community? It all boils down to politics at the county or state level.
When the highway system was put in, it was the state and county political body that ultimately decided how it would cross their territory. Towns that had their friends running them, or that were willing to offer a sweet bribe were the ones that got the offramp. Those that they didn’t like or wouldn’t/couldn’t ante up were cut out of the deal. This goes on even today.
Like or Roman lesson earlier, this practice always leads to bad outcomes.
Federal government
These guys are interested in a bigger target and it is seldom here at home. They are focused on how they can use what they have to get more from other nations. They are willing to commit treason, gamble all of a country’s resources (including its people) and even enslave populations in an effort to be the top dog.
If you think this sounds like conspiracy theory, just look into private organizations like the federal reserve, Trilateral Commission, FEMA and Council for Foreign Relations (CFR). These are the masters of country scale domination. They are the best of the best.
Trouble makers :
The self-appointed know it alls
We addressed these guys earlier, so I won’t bore you with more ranting on this topic.
Unmanaged special interest groups
As opposed to “managed special interest groups”. Many large companies have lobbyists as do many non-profit groups (also large companies). If the special interest group is part of the industry growth plan, and they are working with the industry creation team, then we consider them “managed”. Rogue groups with an independent interest (one that only focuses on them) cause trouble in the developing industry.
Rogue lawmakers
These guys are only the puppet that one of the unmanaged groups has their hand in.
Evangelists
These dorks don’t really care who they represent as long as they can rant long and loud about some “evil” company, person, race, creed or religion. Many times they will start in one topic area and be found a few years later in another. We have seen this many times in the past.
A funny case was one Alien/UFO evangelist that make so many enemies that he had to leave that topic area. Later he popped up doing his thing in the topic area of Tibetan religion and society, proclaiming he is the only one that can grant “authentic Tibetan approval”. His methods are pretty advanced as these guys to since he uses blogs and very basic persuasion methods to target people with true connections and experience. They seldom see it coming and equally seldom have all day to counter this jerks attacks. The thing that amazes me is how people like this can make claims that are bald faced lies and people with real experience seldom come forward. This is usually because they know they will be the next one attacked. We need less of these people in the world.
On the other hand there are good evangelists out there that take beneficial products and services and spread the word quickly. Our hat is off to them.
Counter-intelligence operatives
These guys usually work for the competition. Sometimes this is another country that wants the new industry for itself and sometimes this is for an industry that had their sights set on the new market, but only wants the part of the solution that benefits them. Gotta love competition!
My next blog will cover:
Reaching individuals – a grass roots approach
I will lay out how one-on-one persuasion coupled with targeting by demographic advertising is used to create belief in individuals, and will discuss how to run a mini-campaign and begin to create the argument that will create a new model. I hope it all fits in the blog!
