Seth Godin wrote today about Citizens.

His post is about choosing a word to describe someone who is not yet in relationship with a marketer or seller.

He writes:

“I was talking with Dan Pink on a conference call earlier and we realized that “prospect” or “target market” are very marketing-centric terms. The person is defined by the marketer, not the other way around.”

I think that’s important – that idea of being defined by the marketer instead of the other way around. Being named by another is not something any of us feel good about, if we think a few minutes.

Peter Block talks and writes about citizens. So does John McKnight.

As a result of my life’s intersection with each of these men on occasion, I have come to appreciate the word citizen a lot more. It doesn’t feel quite so stiff and political to me as it once did, and it carries with it the feeling of power vs. powerlessness.

Some have said the word “guest” is better than the word “citizen”, and I can understand why that may feel true, but I see the word guest as similar to the word client or even patient, because it is still a word conferred upon someone, that implies a relationship of some dependence, real or imagined.

It also, fortunately, implies some degree of choice, which is important. The word guest implies that an invitation may have been offered somewhere along the way, so it’s not as slanted towards possession as client and prospect and target market. Citizen feels even more empowered to me, like a word least likely to be conferred upon me by another – by someone needing to categorize me within their market scope.

What feels most important to me is the implication of choice and personal ownership that comes from Citizen.

Much of the conversation that goes on the the world is powerless. The common, powerless conversation, whatever it appears to be saying on the surface about boss, parents, co-workers, spouse, leadership, etc., is saying that I have to wait for the transformation of others before I can create the life I’ve imagined for myself.

Much of our modern culture has become seller – consumer based, in which I find myself in either the role of marketer, provider, seller, helper, caregiver, etc., or client, customer, patient, prospect, recipient.

It’s not easy to think it through at first exposure, but I’ve found that the work of both Peter Block and John McKnight have helped me think about my life and work in terms of asset based community, personal ownership of my world and growing more open to the idea of discovering the gifts in a life or a neighborhood, rather than cataloging its needs and deficits for some fix or service to be provided “to” it.

The Answer to How is Yes is one book by Peter Block that has helped me move in the direction of working together with others to create an alternative future. Participating in A Small Group Cincinnati (ASG) has also helped create some space for change and personal practice around the “6 conversations“. You might also enjoy reading more about the work of changing the world by changing conversation by downloading the PDF of the Civic Engagement booklet used in the work of ASG.

Citizen Weeks
Cincinnati, OH
2-18-08