The Meaning
That 43 members raised at least $20,000 dollars for a worthy cause was the superficial bottom line of our weekend. Can you get 43 members of your station to raise $20,000? Next year there will be many more and we will raise much more. I know that to be true because of the experience that we all had. We are going to bring more to join us. As Cyn was my angel, I will offer my help to other old farts like me. The expert riders will ask their expert friends to come. There need be only a small investment in marketing. We the members will do most of it.
So what was the experience that we had? What is the deal here? The deal is that we all became more us. We endured a challenge as individuals that created a community. We are like "Vets".
This was not a "fun" weekend. But it became joyful.
We had this experience of finding out more of the answer to whom we really were as a result of a wonderful design. This design is how eBay, Google, Starbucks and Southwest all work. I will speak as clearly as I can in my report about this. But for now it is this. Tip to Tip is organized as a trusted container in which people are safe enough to go to their limit and then find it OK and then find others.
Inside the Container, there is great freedom and all the work is done by the members. The container has deep structure to make it strenuous and also safe.
It has "Shepherds". These are experts who do not sit on the sidelines and advise but who mingle with us. One was at the front, one at the back and 2 roamed. No one was going to get lost, get left behind or get into trouble without help. Their job was to ensure the health of the entire system. (Geddit?????) Their job was to make even the weakest feel safe. If even the weak fell safe, the community can develop. When there is fear, it is every man for himself and women and children last. (Geddit???) Fear is disabling. The fear of the weaker stations is justified. If we do not act to deal with the fear of being hurt, left behind or lost, the system cannot emerge.
Who were these people and did it cost a lot to have them? They came from the Ski patrol. The organizers made a contribution to Ski patrol and these guys came as volunteers. We forget that the greatest motive of all is to serve. What was their reward? They have our love and respect. Surely they need money? Yes as do we all. Do you now see the linkage between reputation and being able to earn? What is the motive for all the open source world? Do leaders in this world miss out financially? But they too were rewarded by becoming more human.
Was all this freedom a licence for chaos? No there was massive order, as many of you may have experienced when Johnnie lead us in May. This is a natural design that sets the environment. The leadership job is not to control my bike ride but to provide every biker with the optimal experience that fits them uniquely. Do you offer this to your staff or to your listeners?
Every aspect of the experience had been thought through as an environmental experience. Would their be weak riders? Of course - so what do they need more than rescue? They need an option to do less and it be OK. That was designed in. What do the experts need? They need a chance to go to new levels. That is designed in. What do we all need? We all need good food and fellowship and an opportunity to share with each others as people. That was all designed in. Every aspect of the experience from being bused out and bused back was considered. Considered as an experience. Even the fund raising - we used Pay Pal to make it easy to give. Do you know all the environmental levers in your organization? Is this what you pay attention to?
What about the support costs? The organizers used the goodwill of many community partners - hotels, church groups, the bus company, restaurants. They pulled in a mass of support from the community. Do you rely on your relationships with your partners to fund most of your infrastructure or do you try and do it all yourself?
I remind you that 43 people raised $20,000. I remind you that there will be more next year and more the year after. What is your conversion rate for "members" Who does your marketing? Is it you??????
So what about Public Radio?
What if we saw participation and engagement like this?
What is we created a community like this with our members and between ourselves?
What if we looked after the health of our entire system?
What if we designed containers like this?
What if we raised money like this?
What if we marketed like this?
What if we built infrastructure like this?
So what then would be our mission?
I close with this passage that calls me and ask - would it call you?
"There will come a time when humanity will choose to go against nature, to exploit her bounteous gifts, causing a sickness across the planet. People will forget the ecstasies of communion, and life will become drab and colorless.
In these coming dark ages, though, a deep sense of loss will cause the beginnings of a Great Return. They will look at the landscape and the old temples, built to withstand the cataclysms of millennia and understand once again the sacred laws of Existence.
When this day comes, humanity will have come of age. It will consciously acknowledge its role in the creative impulse that comes from the Sun, fertilizes the Earth, and calls forth the flame in the hearts of men and women to worship Life and the miraculous forces behind Creation."
Miller, Hamish & Broadhurst, Paul. The Sun and the Serpent: An Investigation into Earth Energies
My report is more like a report. It is very detailed and I examine many more points than this and I hope offer you an accurate assessment of what you told me and what I think you can now do.
But I hope that this parable will give you a sense of where you may go. Not because it is an idea. But because it is real. You can do this and no one else in media can. You can create a new "New World" where we can be human again and where we can come together to do hard things like, improve our health, educate and raise our kids, develop the local economies, make bridges across cultures, make peace and come alive again after being asleep for so long.
Technorati Tags: Biking, Culture, Gift Economy, Organization, Public Radio, Tip to Tip
