I am not going to go on until every single person …

A community managers and content managers we just get how it should all work and can see in our mind what it should or will look like.

We have a vision.

Getting others onboard and moving towards that vision is the challenging part. Sometimes it hurts our head when people can’t easily share in our vision and just ‘get’ how it should be and why. We speak to people and they still ask us “What’s this BookFace all about and why would I want to Twitter?” What is wrong with them?

But we don’t give up. We are determined to realise our vision. We stick to our guns and keep chipping away, day-by-day, one-by-one, until enough people are on board and we begin to realise the vision.

This was brought home for me today when I was listening to Benjamin Zander giving a TED Talk. Here is a snippet.

If you replace the word ‘leader’ with ‘community manager’ or ‘content manager’, and ‘classical music’ with ‘our community/vision’ then this quote describes us.

We know deep down we can get people to realise the vision and how things should be. We don’t doubt that. That’s not to say we have all the answers (I don’t), and collaboration along the way isn't important (it is essential) but community and content management is, as a profession, an infant. As such, not many people understand it well like they might understand accounts/finance, HR or administration. But we do.

I am interested to know whether Zander’s quote strikes a chord with you and whether you feel it describes you and the challenges you face.

View Benjamn Zander’s full TED talk Music and Passion