One way to describe what’s happened to commerce is to say people simply stopped asking permission to do business together. This is not so much the function of a new business ethos as a return to form.
“The first markets were markets. Not bulls, bears, or invisible hands. Not battlefields, targets, or arenas. Not demographics, eyeballs, or seats. Most of all, not consumers.”
“The first markets were filled with people, not abstractions or statistical aggregates; they were places where supply met demand with a firm handshake. Buyers and sellers looked each other in the eye, met, and connected. The first markets were places of exchange, where people came to buy what others had to sell – and to talk.”
“Market leaders were men and women whose hands were worn by the work they did. Their work was their life, and their brands were the names they were known by: Miller, Weaver, Hunter, Skinner, Farmer, Brewer, Fisher, Shoemaker, Smith.”
“For thousands of years, we knew exactly what markets were: conversations between people who sought out others who shared the same interests. Buyers had as much to say as sellers. They spoke directly to each other without the filter of media, the artifice of positioning statements, the arrogance of advertising, or the shading of public relations.”
“Conversation is a profound act of humanity. So once were markets.”
— Doc Searls & David Weinberger: The Cluetrain Manifesto
There is a rumbling in the marketplace. It is not the hum of the PR machine. It is the voice of people—real people—returning to the marketplace. Whatever made the Internet Bubble burst, it didn’t make us stop talking to each other. This insistent desire for serious dialogue is an encouraging residual effect of the New Economy.
As with all human conversation, what we now hear ranges from mundane and trivial to inspiring and profound. One intensifying marketplace dialogue is deeply personal and searching. It comes from deep within the soul. It is a questioning conversation that asks, “Why doesn’t my company have a soul?” and “How do I keep my own soul intact in the middle of all this pressure, pace, and change?” It is a conversation about longing for value, meaning and purpose in the middle of confusion.
There is another voice in the marketplace. It is not a new voice, but rather an ancient, transcendent voice; relevant not because it is new but because it is timeless. It is the voice of Lady Wisdom, calling to be heard above the din of the hawking and haggling.
Hear her:
New ≠ Relevant
New ≠ True“Wisdom shouts in the streets for a hearing. She calls out to the crowds along Main Street, and to the judges in their courts, and to everyone in all the land…I’ll pour out the spirit of wisdom upon you, and make you wise. I have called you so often but still you won’t come. I have pleaded, but all in vain.”
“Can’t you hear the voice of wisdom? She is standing at the city gates and at every fork in the road, and at the door of every house. Listen to what she says…’My instruction is far more valuable than silver or gold…nothing can be compared with it…Listen to my counsel – oh, don’t refuse it – and be wise. Happy is the man who is so anxious to be with me that he watches for me daily at my gates, or waits outside my home! For whoever finds me finds life…”
— Proverbs: The Message
Today, the air in the marketplace is filled with the noisy clamor of too much information, delivered too fast to comprehend. Unless our ears are tuned to catch her words, Lady Wisdom’s clear voice is difficult to hear. For reasons of her own, she makes herself easy to miss, like a homeless person we brush past in hot pursuit of a caffÉ latte.
We need her voice. Who doubts that? We need to receive from her the practical and moral intelligence to guide us out of the delusion that being informed is the same as being wise.
For just one day, walk through the marketplace as an observer instead of a participant—like a journalist or like a photographer looking to gain insight, listening to gain understanding. Eavesdrop on the conversations, both those just begun, and those well developed. See how the conversations are not only about business, but also life. Listen and hear what Lady Wisdom whispers.
