Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable Word of Mouth Movements

Chapter 6. Movements Have Shared Ownership

Which do you think is more powerful and authentic: you telling someone about your brand every single day, or one of your fans telling someone about your brand every single day? If you chose the latter, you're right. But to do that, you have to share ownership.

We're often asked what it means for company leaders to give up ownership—and why they have to do so. But that's the only way your movement will grow, because you can't own a movement. Nobody can. It belongs to everybody. However, when you bring those kindred spirits into the fold and let them know that you are really and truly all in this together, then a light switch turns on. People feel empowered to take the ball and run with it without any fear or trepidation. That's freedom, and a key to success as well. Justine Foo has another way to put it: "A community becomes a community when it behaves like a community. You need ... cooperation to happen. You need ... your customers ... to feel ownership of that experience, instead of just communicating at them."

So many companies are terrified to give up what they never had in the first place: control—especially control of the message. It honestly baffles the mind. They worry, "What if someone says something bad about us?" Great! It's an opportunity ...