MLK and Online Business
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As we observe Marin Luther King’s birthday, it’s natural to look at why he deserves a national holiday. Three traits come to mind:
Pioneer
Leadership
Vision
On the cusp of the civil rights movement, he stood out because he was a pioneer. Had he emerged at any other time in history, he might not have gotten the same notice. But because he was one of the recognized early leaders he received more attention.
There is no doubt that he was a leader. His personal charisma and his speaking ability made him a natural leader. And his ability to encourage people to rally around him pointed to his natural leadership.
No one can doubt his vision. He spoke of it often and painted a vision that others could see and follow.
But would Martin Luther King have made a good online business owner in today’s world? I doubt it and here’s why.
As a pioneer he had to find new ways of doing things – expressing thoughts, getting a message out, inspiring people. As an early online business owner, you had to figure out new paths.
Nowadays, the path is clear. We are no longer in the pioneer stage of online business. There is no need to invent new paths. It’s a matter of buckling down and doing the work. For a pioneer like MLK, the work would not have as exciting.
His leadership style also does not fit the online business mode that most people use to start their business. Unless he were to aspire to be one of the startups with venture capital and a team, his personal charisma would have been wasted sitting in his home office.
After all for most online business owners, there is a lot of work behind the scenes. Your ability to inspire others is expressed through webinars and video sales letters and in that regard his strong voice and inspirational tone would have been helpful. But for most of us, just being ourselves is more than sufficient.
Finally, any business can benefit from vision. Your vision may be as big as MLK’s. But in your own online business you are the one who not only creates the vision – but you also make it happen. The civil rights movement benefited from his vision, but it took a lot of people who were willing to work unnoticed to make it happen.
So what do YOU think – would Martin Luther King have been a good online business owner? Add your comments below.
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