TheThreePercent

ThreePercenters need a lot of help when they set out to change how people organize themselves, do business and live their lives. And the things they need most are good advice and careful connections.

Most ThreePercenters know this, and they crave good counsel to the point of telling everyone they meet about their hopes and dreams. I would argue that this can be disastrous, or at least counterproductive, two out of every three times. The reason is in what Warren Bennis calls “People Judgment” (Judgment, 2007). ThreePercenters are often not equipped to distinguish between several types of go-betweens.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that innovation is more about constructing a new pattern of intentions rather than simply inventing inventions, but intentions can not be patented. They are fragile and can not be protected from predation or dilution when exposed. Nevertheless, the innovator can not hope to develop strong intentions by working entirely in his own head. The growing intention needs the oxygen of others’ experience and the nutrients that come from mentorship and connection with other peoples’ insights and knowhow.

So in whom do you confide? “People I trust,” you might say. But this is not a sufficient distinction to avoid disaster. You can trust someone to be a friend, to be a good parent or partner, to be an honest person. But even the honest person can be a poor instrument for certain jobs. You can trust someone with your life but not expect them to be able to climb a mountain to save you, if they happen to be a quadruple amputee! Likewise, you may trust a friend implicitly, but if they are incapable of keeping their mouth shut, best to leave them unburdened of your most fragile intentions.

There are three types of ‘go-betweens’ out there: gadflys, gossips and intermediaries. The innovator needs to connect with other people, and on the surface, gadflys and gossips seem to fit the bill. They “know everyone,” and have a reputation for spreading ideas around. They are the pollinators. Many bloggers fill this role. The problem with gadflys and gossips is that their often sizable egos are fed mainly by the satisfaction they get from being in-the-know. And the only way for them to cash-in on that satisfaction is to tell others liberally what they hear. At minimum, a gadfly or gossip will keep a secret but still prance about signaling the adult equivalent of the classic schoolkid’s line, “I’ve got a secret, I’ve got a secret!”

The difference between a gadfly and a gossip is that the gadfly’s ego is stroked most by whom they can claim to know. The gossip’s ego feeds more on what they can claim to know. The gadfly is so universally annoying that they are often easy to spot and can be avoided. The gossip can be harder to identify. Both types, however, can be very useful when you are ready to trumpet your innovation to the world. But beware of them when your intentions are not yet ripe.

What early-stage innovators need most are intermediaries: Intermediaries are go-betweens who are well trained or naturally good at keeping secrets, only making connections with others at the right times and with great discretion. A true intermediary has learned to manage his ego. He derives no personal satisfaction from being the person who knows something or someone. She derives satisfaction by honoring the confidence you have placed in her by providing only the information necessary to make quality connections. An intermediary typically will not tell anyone else about your idea at all. Rather, they will simply make an introduction where safe and appropriate. “Joe, I have a friend you should meet.” A trusted intermediary will require no other prompt to get “Joe” to take action. Joe will know that the intermediary only brings him worthwhile connections. He will know from her example that he must also be a good intermediary himself, not a gossip or gadfly. And he will also know that inappropriately taking advantage of the intermediary’s trust will get him excommunicated from that community. So a good intermediary becomes an arbiter of trust, ensuring that ideas can circulate among the right people who implicitly agree not to do violence to each others’ intentions.

It is crucial for ThreePercenters to know how to spot these different kinds of go-betweens in your search for good connections. I have seen other innovators go completely in the other direction, choosing to make no connections and “skunk works” their projects, disconnecting themselves from everything. This is perhaps as certain to cause disaster as being “outed” too soon by a gossip. With blinders on and no help from others with other vantage points showing you where the landmines are, you will inevitably step on one. Or you may never discover that one insight that completes your idea and makes it really work.

Being open about things is a good policy if you know what you are doing, but ironically it seems that the more closed some innovators are about their ideas, the more they make the mistake of choosing a gadfly or gossip, not an intermediary, as their confidant when they do finally open up to someone.