Better than me: the hierarchies that bind
Just when I was thinking hard about hierarchies, I open up my aggregator this morning to see Hugh Macleod discussing them himself. Brilliant. I don't have to muse on it alone (love the whole blogosphere for that...it's so darn validating).I started thinking about this yesterday (again, I think about it alot, actually. Being lower on the totem pole means you encounter hierarchical barriers often.) after I signed up for the LinkedIn thing. Will people be able to let down old-fashioned social barriers in this new, online networking community? And how are these bonds formed? What is trust? I trust the opinions of Hugh Macleod and Seth Godin, both I've enjoyed contact and conversations with, but why? I don't know much about how they live, who they vote for, what some of their other interests are.
It's about status building, really. If Seth Godin is listed in my LinkedIn network, I must be somebody, too, right?
My hope is that the future of the net will break down some of those barriers. Eradicate the exclusivity of expertise, make everyone accessible, open us to meeting anyone who is a real person. A contact is a contact.
My mother once said to me, "If you are on a date with a guy who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, he is not a nice guy." My mom is smart. I've taken that lesson with me throughout whichever status I've been.
Here is my reasoning:
- Treating someone differentially perpetuates the hierarchies.
- Hierarchies are disempowering.
- When people are disempowered, they tend to dislike you.
- Those people could save your ass one day.
- If they dislike you, you're screwed. You can never take it back.
But we shouldn't just break down hierarchies because we expect someone to help us out someday. It's just irrational to posture someone higher than another. We are all human beings with our own stories. And status judgment is totally subjective. I may admire certain people's careers or philosophies over other ones, but that doesn't mean that those in less exhalted positions haven't accomplished amazing things.
But then again...like I prefaced in the beginning...this probably bothers me more because I struggle with those hierarchies. I wonder what my perspective would be from the top?
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