While we’re on the topic of books (see a couple of posts back) – can I also recommend “The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations” (phew – quite the mouth full) a book by James Surowiecki. It’s a book I read while away and found particularly relevant to blogging (despite not mentioning it).
To paraphrase it terribly it is a book about how groups of people (crowds) have the ability to come up with some pretty amazing and resourceful solutions if in the right environment. It reminded me a lot of my Blogging in Formation – Lessons from a Goose series.
Disclaimer: Of course coming out of the ColdPlay concert at Crystal Palace in London a week or so back with 30,000 rather drunk 18 year olds all trying to get onto the platform of one train station I did have moments of doubt about the book!
How very timely…. I’m currently dealing with a sticky situation (my online articles have been plagiarized in a published book), and I’ve invited my visitors to suggest possible ways of handling this:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/07/im-a-published-author/
It’s interesting to see the variety of suggestions, and it helps me to achieve greater clarity about the right path. So I do think there’s something to be said for the wisdom of crowds.
A good friend of mine once said “No one is as good as all of us.” That phrase has become a bit of a motto for myself and the many advocates I work with.
So many times I have witnessed a great deal of wisdom and strength in numbers.
Being a bit of a “people pleaser” myself, I have found that although my fellow advocates and I maintain our own sites, as long as I *know* someone is out there working *with* me, I try harder and achieve more.
You’re right Steve – the readers here at ProBlogger have been my most influential and rewarding ‘crowd’ of late. Quite inspiring to see what comes from their collective wisdom.
ColdPlay, Coldplay :)
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