Ellsworth Toohey IRL: the gaping void of Hugh MacLeod

Guru Bloggers, a fancy crowd. Or call them meta bloggers. Their main topic is blogging, their blog, their thoughts on blogging (especially on blogging about blogging on blogging). You get the idea. Of course, for actual credibility you need to own a phrase giving you a nymbus of content and authority. "Crowdsourcing", "Be a Purple Remarkable Cow", "The Long Tail" or "Social Blue Monster Objects".

So what does taste like?

The Blue Monster wine is also part of the "Smarter Wine" conversation. The main thesis is that it's not the wine per se that is interesting, it's the conversations that happen around the wine that is interesting.

Not per se. It really depends on the people and the topic and the listeners whether the conversations are interesting or not. And if "it's the conversations around the wine", they could be fairly boring actually. But you're right: wine is a utility for socialising, and doesn't matter all that much by itself. You realized that, but that won't mean you can change anything about it.

And that is true for all social objects. People matter. Objects don't.

And "social" objects are no exemption. But here's your core slogan: people matter. I think everyone can agree with that. So everyone can agree with you. After all, "people" is everyone, so you must mean me. Feels kind of good. Always nice being not too controversial, especially if you can still play out the "radical" card fairly conveniently, being the "lonely small-time blogging cartoonist". A man of the people. One of us. And he's changing Microsoft for us, so Mum won't get have to be angry about her computer any longer.

If the Blue Monster wine idea is interesting, it's because of a most unlikely mash-up between a small, obscure winery in South Africa, and the world's largest software company.

Yes, that's all there is to it, Hugh. Such "unlikely obscurity" is a proven way to get attention for a short while. A very short while. Make the most limited-edition lithographs out of it, and better be quick. Because as Remarkable as this is, the next Purple Cow is already around the corner.

Importing different Cultural DNA into an organization is a real balancing act. Too much of it makes it impossible for the company to focus. Too little and the company withers on the vine.

Lots of social engineering here (we are slowly getting to the Ellsworth Toohey part). Just because they let you doesn't mean either employees or customers or shareholder need your Cultural DNA all that much. They like a buffoon with their wine and their software every once in a while, it sure is entertaining. Until and unless it becomes stale. They will keep buying software and wine and goods of production because of their tangible intrinsic values. They will keep not minding funny guru concepts around their products as long as they change often enough before getting boring.

None of this stuff is rocket science. Most of it is glaringly obvious.

Yes, that's the way guru stuff works. I knew that you knew your stuff, but being oh-so-open about it doesn't make it any more sophisticated.

And sadly for folks working in the social software industry, "The people who get it, don't need us. And the people who need us, don't get it."

Sounds like a hell of a business plan to me... literally. The road to frustration. After recognizing this, why keep bothering? Nobody is done a service, and doing a well-paid service that's actually in demand is a lot more gratifying. Tell the social software people to ask the guys at your winery, or at Microsoft (instead of you).

Well, Dave, your low opinion of Microsoft notwithstanding, I'm not looking at this from the executive level. I'm coming at this from the perspective of a small-time cartoonist with a blog and an internet connection.

Delusions of grandeur. I you have never heard of Ellsworth Toohey, consider yourself lucky. Enough name-dropping for now.

And from where I'm standing, it seems to me that in a big company like Microsoft, even a small thing like the Blue Monster can create a lot of value for a lot of people.

Seems to you? Things aren't always what they seem. Microsoft is creating a lot of value, as are many other software companies out there. Wineries are also creating a little value. In either case, what exactly is the blue monster adding? "Change the world or go home"? I would argue that this slogan of yours has been the guiding principle of the well-known and the unknown Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of this world long before you started creating drunken cartoons. True, they never articulated this, they merely expressed the principle in action and production, and so they are probably delighted and amused by you finding the right words.

After some 20 years madness of 16-hour days of production, someone else who wants to actually change the world can finally afford to hire a radical guru evangelist sitting in a NYC bar whose contribution is putting it into words. Nothing wrong here, but the word smith should be exceptionally careful never to reverse cause and effect or overestimate his place in the scheme of things. (Between the lines, you make it very clear that you do have a grip on this.) You can own a meme you yourself created, be it the Purple Cow or Social Object, or even a Wine brand, but not Microsoft or its equivalent. For a short while, you will sell a lot more good-old wines with brand-new cartoon labels (mostly to tens of thousands of Microsofties) and Microsoft has some much-needed mojo juice going. Make no mistake, your stuff resonates with Microsoft because that's their point of getting out of bed every day. So it's not exactly a wave of change. The kind of people bashing Microsoft won't even take notice in the way you hope for. The people who get it won't need you (for long), and the people who need you, won't get it. I might be wrong, but I actually care less about this than you.

No, I have no idea of where all this is going.

I think you do:

All I care about these days is drawing cartoons, doing interesting things with interesting people, paying my bills, and keeping my sorry ass out of the hospital, the mental asylum, the morgue etc.

A safe bet. Despite "all this", you do after all know that's the things you can count on.

Nobody can count on either a Gaping Void or the Glaringly Obvious fascinating anyone forever, or even for long-enough. From what I have seen so far, I have to assume that you know the point of your blog's name better than most people do.