There are probably about 30,000 other people in the Washington, D.C. metro area that are talking, blogging, commenting, and posting about the U2 concert last night at FedEx Field in Maryland. I wasn’t intending on being one of those people – though it was a fantastic concert, as one might expect. But, throughout the concert, I couldn’t help thinking about the letter to President Obama and Vice President Biden that over 8,100 artists have already signed. Here’s why:

Bono is clearly an artist that is passionate about his music and about many social causes. First, he connected with the audience. He addressed the attendees somewhat personally by referencing many DCisms: our government, Pennsylvania Avenue, Obama, and he thanked many Senators and others who support his causes. Second, the format of the concert was one that highlighted many social justice issues and attempted to empower the audience by encouraging us to be agents of social change.

During the concert, I kept thinking about how great it was that an artist who had the listening ear of 90,000 plus people would spend so much energy promoting other causes. Imagine how many people he influenced in one night…

‘That’s great,’ you might think, ‘but I’m not Bono, so I can’t do what he does.’ Wait. Actually, you can.

The thing is, we all have spheres of influence regardless of how big or small we are. Picture yourself standing in the center of a room. You have three circles that surround you. These are your spheres of influence.

The first circle that goes around you is the smallest. That represents a set of people or sources that you have the biggest influence on – and they have the biggest influence on you. For example, they would be your family or closest friends.

The second circle goes around the outside of the first circle. This one is a little bit bigger and represents people or sources that are loosely connected to you. Their influences are strong, but not nearly as strong as that first circle of people. For example, this sphere of influence might be colleagues, friends of friends, social groups, or even some of your neighbors.

The third circle goes around the outside of the second circle. This is the biggest circle and is the farthest from you. So, it has the least amount of direct influence on you, but because it is the largest, influence comes from more places. You could put the media, advertising, blogs, and former clubs or networks in this circle.

In fact, advertisers count on these spheres of influence when designing ad campaigns. Their intent is to move from your third circle to your first circle by creating a compelling advertisement. If a commercial convinces you to buy a product that you end up liking, you are more likely to tell your friends or family in your first circle about it. Since they are closest to you and respect and value your opinion and tastes, then they will be more likely to buy the same product. Don’t you make choices for products, movies, restaurants, or books based on suggestions of those closest to you?

So, as an artist, you probably move in and out of many different types of groups, networks, and circles. You have influence in many places, a stronger influence in some and less in others. If you stand up for a product or issue that you believe in – like signing a letter to urge the Obama Administration to respect creators’ rights – and tell others, especially those in your first circle, then they will likely sign the letter as well.

Or let’s say that you buy a pound of coffee that you really don’t think is up to the quality that the company guarantees. (This really just happened to me.) So, you call the company customer service hotline and tell them your issue with the coffee. They have great customer service people who agree to send you a new pound of coffee. By offering one bit of feedback, you may have influenced company policy or customer service guarantees.

The problem is that sometimes we underestimate the power of influence we have on others. Or we think that our one voice is not enough to really make change.

That’s where the power of the masses comes in. The opening band for the U2 concert last night was Muse. As you might guess, the stadium was considerably empty when they began playing. The crowd cheered for the band, though it sounded weak in the big stadium because the crowd was small.

I wondered, if there was just one person in the stadium cheering and clapping for Muse, would I be able to hear him from where I was sitting?

Probably not. That one person is tiny compared to the big stadium. But when 90,000 individual people get together, they fill up the stadium, and make a big noise. In fact, the noise was probably as big as the sound U2 made – and the crowd noise didn’t have a microphone.

So, if you want to tackle an issue, but you’re not sure how to do it, because you aren’t as big as U2, then get 90,000 people together. That will surely make a big noise and be a way that you too can change the world.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 12:43 pm by Lucinda M. Dugger and is filed under creators, culture, events, philanthropy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.