Shepard Fairey: Poster Child of the Gift Culture
Derived from…
Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable
Previously
Your Art: From Mechanical to Digital
RAP6 : Your Gifts
PROFIT : The way we interact with each other is changing. Central to the capitalist system is giving to get. In contrast, the internet is emerging as a gift culture where giving freely is normal. And, this is the intent behind sharing your art. The Gift Culture
W
From his initial print run, he sold 350 copies and gave away another 350.
By October 2009, he’d printed 300,000 posters and sold only 2000 of them.
The rest were given away.
(Source: Wikipedia)
To give away 99% of your product doesn’t sound like good business practice.
Think of all the money he left on the printing table.
Yet, from that one poster, Fairey’s career is now firmly established.
His poster became the icon of the Obama campaign, was acquired by the Smithsonian for the National Portrait Gallery and he now has an international reputation.
He’s also become the poster-child (sic) of the gift culture built on generosity.
We often expect our experience to predict what will happen. But, what if it doesn’t?…
We often think experience accumulates into value automatically. But Rambo shows it doesn't work that…
When two people are standing side-by-side watching the same event, is our experience the same?…
Most people think experience is all about having seen something before. But what if it’s…
Sometimes we see problems through the lens of age or skill, when the real issue…
When should you back experience? And when should you back potential? As leaders, It's one…
