In a recent online discussion with the ABV team for the pilot, I talked about being distracted by opportunities for visibility instead of focusing on community-building. One team member shot back, "I disagree." He pointed out that visibility is important because if no one knows about, say, a blog, the chance to even build an online community never arises.

I realized that I had been reacting to a commonly viewed path to success that usually entails temporary exposure to a large audience–being a guest on Oprah, having a New York Times bestseller, speaking at well-known conference.  These are all good things and when gaining visibility is the focus, without a way to keep the conversation going, the results can be disappointing over the long-term. That’s why I’m against just focusing on speaking gigs (one time exposure, to usually different audiences, often without an effective way to deepen the relationship afterwards.)

Going back to the online conversation with the ABV team, I was guilty of "either/or" thinking, when "both/and" can be so much more powerful.  Only focusing on visibility or only focusing on community-building will yield sub-optimal results (can you tell I used to be an engineer?) The best outcome is to use both, purposefully.

Seth Godin talks about critical mass. There are some situations where the value of the system is not visible until there’s a threshold traffic or users.  Think fax machines and PayPal. Visibility helps achieve critical mass quicker. 

I recently read The PayPal Wars by Eric Jackson. It’s an entertaining look at the culture of start-ups.  At one time, PayPal gave $20 referral fees if one of your friends signed up. That’s visibility. They eventually reached critical mass–enough users on eBay to make it the defacto standard for settling up after an auction. But they also made sure to nurture the community of users on eBay, participating in their user forums. The author details time and time again when the community of PayPal users came to PayPal’s defense when competitors threatened the company’s survival.

How does this relate to ABV? In the beginning, it is important to focus on both exposure of the  innovator’s remarkable wisdom and building a community. Once there’s a critical mass, enough to get a community started, it seems that the focus should be tilted toward community-building. That’s what will ensure sustainability. 

ABV is about getting the full benefit of "both/and." Branding/Marketing is traditional marketing principles (e.g., who is your audience) and online marketing tools (e.g., Google AdWords). Technology is newspaper, magazine article, blog and podcast. Community-building is social networking and in-person gatherings.

This is different from compromise. I think of compromise as "lowest common denominator" or "watering down" a great idea. "Both/and" thinking is often going to a new place, different from either polarity. Considering both perspectives gives new results. It creates a jumping off point that didn’t exist before.

One final point. "Both/and" thinking comes out of vibrant communities, where different points of view can be heard and considered. I feel lucky to be part of a vibrant community with the ABV team.