Lessons from Religion about Evangelizing Enterprise 2.0

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Bertrand, There's even more to the issue than just the problems of religious zeal.  Consider this:  Society forms government to manage the distribution of power.  Society also forms the marketplace to manage the distribution of wealth.  Power and Wealth -- government and the market -- are the two primary forces that move people in society (and in the workplace).  The structure and behavior of the workplace is inspired by government (in the form of organizational hierarchies) and the market (in the form of financial incentives, budgets, and bonuses).  But society has a third model of social behavior which is neither the flow of power or of wealth -- it is the community of shared interest.  

Religion is one such example of a community that (in many cases) is not really about power or wealth, but about something else (e.g. salvation, faith, love, acceptance, etc.)  When religion works, people share in common fate and faith and join together to do "good things".  When religion fails to work, it's usually related to issues (or abuses) of money or power.

So -- regardless of one's personal view of religion -- it serves as an interesting model for human behavior.  What brings diverse people of different social status (wealth and power) to congregate into a community?  When does it work? (and how do successful leaders do it?) When does it fail? (and why?) and what does this mean to business communities -- which, like religious groups -- are not motivated by wealth or power, but by shared interest?  Can the workplace (a place of power and wealth) accommodate the community of shared interest?  If so, then how?  If not, then E2.0 has a big problem!

Truth be told, the same analogy holds true for communities of people who loose weight together (like WeightWatchers), or people who join other affinity or support groups (e.g. community service, bereavement etc.) .  But the topic of religion is sufficiently dangerous that it may attract interest to this proposal.

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Gil - I love the boldness of tackling religion with a US audience*.

What brings diverse people of different social status (wealth and power) to congregate into a community?

What do you think of the work of Etienne Wenger here? Have you read the book he's just published with John D Smith & Nancy White?

Matt, 

I have not read his latest book (yet) -- but he is certainly one of the great thought-leaders in this space.  There are so many great examples of both healthy and unhealthy communal behaviors that we can use and learn from to help understand workplace dynamics.  It's amazing to see how different people define their community and who they include (and why).  There are also some great examples of the failure based on all sorts of hard-headed behaviors.  Lots to learn.