"Blog!" Author David Kline - Interview

"Blogging is excellent training for the practice of 'not knowing,'" David Kline observes. 

Kline, along with Dan Burstein, put together that macro look at the blogosphere "Blog! How the newest media revolution is changing politics, business, and culture" published by cds Books, 2005.  "Blog!" takes to the next level what Dan Gillmor introduced in "We The Media: Grassroots journalism by the people, for the people."

In the bad habit of finishing people's sentences, I completed Kline's line of thought with, So, David, you would say that bloggers may be the best equipped to navigate this new global, volatile economy - with all its ambiguities.

Outgunned verbally, Kline agreed, sort of.

David Kline:

By "not knowing" I meant the ability to keep one's thinking out there, keep accepting feedback on it, and as a result keep refining it. 

You might say that it's from this 'not knowing" that great ideas get shaped and then put in concrete form.  That concrete form may be using the Internet for fundraising in a presidential campaign or, more recently, applying the links and leverage of the blogosphere to help pets and their owners post-Katrina.

Jane Genova:

From what you've said, could I conclude that blogging, because it's so open and out there, and receives so much feedback, requires humility?  And, is it from that humility that real progress can come?

David Kline:

We bloggers get it that the entire human race is just winging it.  And, that in order to survive and maybe even thrive we have to pool our collective wisdom.  The links and leverage of the blogosphere make that pooling cheap, convenient and able to happen in real time, that is, relatively quickly. 

The successes of collective action in the blogosphere (think Rathergate, think communications during the recent disasters, think how many times The Establishment checks Matt Drudge's blog daily) has empowered us. Those who might have been voiceless before now recognize they can have an impact. 

Where is this all going?  No one knows how the collective voices of ordinary citizens, previously unheard, might affect everything from the economy to social mores.

Jane Genova:

As a speechwriter and presentation coach, I got to ask you if blogging will replace the formal 20-minute speech given before a live audience?

David Kline:

Some people will take advantage of evolving blog technology to deliver their speech digitally, not in person. But most, I predict, will want to take advantage of the inherent power of being there with an audience, in person.  There's that emotional connection.  It's important and wise speakers know it.

Jane Genova:

Could blogging be feeding America's epidemic of narcissism?  Readers of this blog know that I advise those I coach, particularly if their careers are in trouble, to get out of themselves, to "self-forget."

David Kline:

Wild guess? I'd say blogging is probably feeding narcissism, in the same way that an early toddler's mastery of speech and basic social cues feeds his or her self-absorption.  With time and the development of a more secure ego and the right role models, the toddler develops empathy for others.  As a result toddlers will see themselves as part of a larger community and come to enjoy belonging. 

That's what probably will happen in blogging.  After bloggers master the fundamentals of this new medium, they will come to value belonging more than hearing themselves talk.  Also, this sense of being a member of something bigger than themselves will drive them to shape their postings to be of service.

Jane Genova:

As you know, many corporate leaders still haven't embraced blogging.  Why the resistance?

David Kline:

For the entire history of modern business, the corporation has been a faceless monolith shielded from direct contact with customers.  But, thanks to blogs and other forms of citizen-created communications, from now on, everything in business -- from marketing to public relations to new product development to capital investment -- will be done collectively, with customers.  This is already happening in sophisticated supply chain management.  And look how the wiki is being used so widely by all sorts of groups including business ones.

Many leaders will most likely continue to resist.  And perhaps the way of collective decision-making won't be via the blog platform. 

But in time the organization man/woman will give way to sharing knowledge and insights.  Business schools aren't teaching that new model.  But they'll have to.

Jane Genova:

This medium we call blogging is about six years and morphing rapidly.  Can you predict its future?

David Kline:

Those who gaze at crystal balls, it's been said, are likely to wind up eating broken glass.  That said, I believe the days are going to be over when a few power brokers craft and deliver a limited range of social, political and economic options for the rest of us. 

Eventually, and it's already happening on a small scale, the voices of ordinary citizens in all their wisdom and foolishness (remember how Steve Jobs in his Stanford University commencement address told graduates to "stay foolish") will create a much broader menu of options for us to consider and select from.

I am convinced that this will represent progress for us human beings.

In addition to authoring "Blog!" David Kline (dkline@well.com) has written "Rembrandts in the Attic: Unlocking the Hidden Value of Patents," Harvard School Press.  Kline's other hats include business consulting, particularly in the field of intellectual property strategy, and speaking professionally before corporate audiences.