It was February 2010, Derek Sivers is backstage, preparing to deliver his talk. In the audience are many well-known people who have contributed to “Ideas worth sharing.” This stage is not any stage, it is the TED Stage.
Derek’s talk includes video. His name is called. He steps onto the stage, audience clapping, and “The shirtless dancing guy” video starts.
Derek later recalls, “My heart was racing, I couldn’t remember any of my lines. This talk has to be just right, I have to remember every line, or it falls out of sync with the video. I can’t remember my first line. I’m screwed.”
In the end, Derek did deliver his talk, “How to Start a Movement” that has been viewed 8,752,977 times to date.
“The dancing guy video,” have you seen it? I have. I have watched this TED TALK several times. Yes, some of those 8,752,977 views are mine.
What I have learned from this 3:03 minute talk is that “the shirtless dancing guy” was a leader. Like Derek shares, “A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous.”
In the video that was shared over 10 years ago, you see a shirtless guy on a hill. He is dancing while others are sitting. He seems like a “nut.” Yet, what he is doing is simple; this is key.
The moment that the “dancing guy” transformed from a nut to a leader was when the first follower joined him. This first follower is brave. Then the second follower joins them. Things are starting to happen. Derek points out, “Now it’s not a lone nut, and it’s not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.”
Derek continues, “A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers because new followers emulate followers – not the leader.”