Who Are We When No One Knows Our Name?

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Scott Gould

I read a great line in a post by Carra Hughes Greer on “Virtual Values“. In it, Carra discusses the virtual reality of things like ethics, morality and values, citing bullying and therefore cyber bulling as one of her main examples that the online world is by no means an ethical utopia, but requires the same kind of social awareness that we have offline.

She finishes with this excellent line:

I think about the adage, “Character is who you are when no one is watching.” It seems the adage must be slightly updated to fit our context, “Character is who you present yourself to be and the things you say when no one knows your real-world name.”

I really resonate with this. I wrote in this article at the beginning of the year that as a community, we must stop giving value to those who are unaccountable. It seems everyone can have their two cents today, without being accountable for the words they speak because they hide their real-world name.

What Carra says won’t resonate with everyone though. I got a lot of criticism earlier this year and most of it from people without real-world names on Twitter or the comments on this blog. For many people, character and accountability don’t matter. But for those of us for whom it does, this is a call to up our game.

I know many times I’ve behaved in a way online – even with my name visible – that I wouldn’t offline. So thank you, Carra, for calling me on it.

Your Leading Thoughts

Who are you when no one knows your real-world name? (Or when no one knows your real-world face?)

Photo by Toni Blay

Patrick Swayze

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Scott Gould

I opened BBC News this morning to read the sad announcement that Patrick Swayze has passed away, no less than 20 months after being told he had only weeks to live. I remember thinking months ago that it would be a sad day when this day did indeed come, and now that it is here, I feel I must say something about this man.

I’m not one for celebrity. Hence I have no problem writing about Patrick Swayze – because he isn’t one of these new celebrities that clog up newspaper stands and gossips columns across the world. Personally I think glossy magazines are soul destroying material that promote fake lifestyles that no one can ever attain to, and spur a culture of ‘me me me’ rather than ‘we we we’.

Even in this photo above, on his face there is a smile of satisfaction – not a vain pout of pride. There is a distinct lack of gloss, and a notable presence of genuine joy. On his arm is a wife – his companion and life partner – whose hand he holds like the treasure she is to him.

Patrick was the antithesis of everything about celebrity that I despise and rather stood for what a man should stand for:

He was a man of hard graft
A man who used his talents and pursued his dream, despite the bullies who mocked his ballet dancing
A man of character who stayed faithful to his wife of 30 years – who didn’t need a divorce to order to gain new publicity
A family man, who raising his kids with morality, a sense of responsibility to society – not as brats with too much money and no little sense
A man who made mistakes and had issues, but overcame them, rather than wallowed in them
A fighter, who fought that ugly thing called cancer for 20 months

Today I genuinely morn his death, because there is now one less of those quality men in our world.

I just hope that in reading, this inspires someone, somewhere, to take his place.

Uncompromising On Your Experience

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Scott Gould

I founded Aaron+Gould on August 12 2008, and in order to get cash flow through the door I did some work at a really cheap rate – I mean, stupidly cheap. You tell yourself that you’re building your portfolio, or building your network, but after it all you realise it’s just one of the things that you do to make ends meat.

Side note: most business people would never be this honest – they’d be too busy posturing – but I know that you learn just as much from the scars as you do from the successes. Anyway…

So I took the job late last year. To cut a long story short, we finally got the last bits of copy we needed this week (after 7 months of silence) to wrap the project up. Thing is, our rates are now exceedingly more, and thus I faced the dilemma: do I do the bare minimum, quickly and to a low standard, and say “that’s it”, or, do I treat them just as valuably as our other clients?

My solution was found in the following Gucci slogan: Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.

Let me rephrase using my favourite word: Experience is remembered long after the price is forgotten. Every person I am in contact with, every client my agency serves, every visitor that enters my church, every follower on Twitter and reader of this very article – every single one deserves a compelling experience, and it is that experience that they’ll remember above all the other factors that fade over time.

To this end, I resolved not to compromise this client’s experience. I’ve decided that providing a compelling experience is now one of my personal and business non-negotiables. I won’t compromise it.

What won’t you compromise?