After nearly five years of leading the Swedish Pirate Party, the urge has come to start sharing what I have learned. Like I said in a radio show once: it is something of a challenge to organize fifty thousand individualists who distrust authority in a hierarchical command structure.
My thinking is to write a book on the subject. Loose thinking about its contents:
Control the vision, not the brand. You can communicate what is to be accomplished, but the brand will be perceived differently in different social circles if you try to control it centrally. The people in these social circles are much better at painting the vision in a brand that works in that particular social context.
Reward doing. Let people loose and reward initiatives.
Give everybody something meaningful to do. Always keep empty boxes in the org chart around.
There will be more, much more thinking done on this subject in the next few months.
Swarm management… not only for people, but also for ideas and concepts.
We are not defeated because of the overwhelming superiority (supposed, be it intellectual, financial, etc.) of our adversaries, but because of our lack of accurate and independent vision.
How come “Tortuga Iceland” has not yet been declared under siege and defending the place put on the altar of honor of any true pirate?
Do you even have some representation there?
Ideas need little funding (feeding the brain cells is not that expensive and each should take good care of his own). Only he who runs out of ideas has to resort to begging (I can’t stand “Donation” buttons, you should take Wikileaks and now The Bradley Manning Defence Funds problems with PayPal -youre only a pal while you pay 😉 and cause no trouble that undermine the benefit margin- to make a principled stand and remove them altogether from any Pirate Party related event).
I sent you a mail.