August 27, 2008
live on the edges or not at all
[“Edges 1″. Part of “The Edges” series. Click on image to enlarge…]
Over the weekend while I was working on the above drawing, from out of nowhere the phrase, “Live on the edges or not at all” suddenly popped into my head. So I used that line for the drawing’s title etc.
Since then the line has stayed with me. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. What exactly do I mean by it? Here are some notes, in no particular order.
1. There are lots of edges. The phrase, “Living on The Edge” often connotes something negative. Think of Jimi Hendrix, dying young from drug and alcohol abuse. Or William Blake, whose visionary art and poetry was never properly understood in his lifetime. Or William S. Burroughs, and his crazy years of lonely exile. All living on the edges of Society. All paying a heavy price for the privilege. You get the idea.
But there are other edges out there. Plenty of them. Apple obsessing about industrial design. Dell obsessing about their customers. Microsoft obsessing about software problems that may not even exist yet. Though their business models are all quite different, they’re quite edgy about what they do as individual companies. And this is PRECISELY what made them so successful– the edge part, not the middle part.
2. And we’re not just talking about computers. While most people are happy to sell business suits for a couple of hundred dollars, here’s Thomas selling them for $5000. He’s selling at the very extreme, high-end “edge” of the suit market. Or Max Brenner and his incredibly expensive chocolate. Price-wise, he’s also “on the edge”, and people can’t get enough.
3. “Edgelings”. This term was coined by a friend of mine, Stowe Boyd to describe people who gravitate towards the edges. So far I’ve heard nothing better.
4. The Herd. When sheep flock together, in order to protect the collective, the strong end up in the middle of the flock; the old, infirm and weak end up on the outside of the flock, leaving them easy pickin’s for any predators who may be nearby. If you read Mark Earl’s fabulous book, “Herd”, you soon realize that human beings aren’t that different. For all the heroic individualism Western society likes to idealize [almost to the point of fetishism], humans are surprisingly “Herd-like” in their behavior.
Just as sheep move to the center of the flock for purely survival reasons, so do human beings. It’s why we wear khakis and join tennis clubs. But some of us move to “the edges” for the exact same reason– Survival. “If we stay in the middle, we’re just going to get creamed like everybody else, once the market moves on.” I don’t think “Edgelings” consciously choose to be this way– like every other mammal out there, they just want to get on with their business without being eaten by wolves. Declarations like “Live on the edges or not at all” come after the fact– as Mark Earls would say, it’s more about justifying past behavior, rather than ensuring future behavior.
5. What’s true in life, is also true in marketing. The great advertising and marketing thinker, Russell Davies says that a brand’s Number One job is to be “Interesting”. I agree. And I also seriously, seriously believe that if you’re on the hunt for “Interesting”, you’re going to find it far more easily on the edges, not in the middle.
As my friend and mentor, Seth Godin told me over dinner a couple of years ago, while I was picking his brains for marketing advice, “The edges. Always keep pushing on the edges”.
Exactly.
Interesting idea, being on the edge. Of course, emperor penguins have a “rolling edge” when the huddle up in the Antarctic night, each taking turns in getting the benefits of the warmth at the centre of the crowd, and taking their turn out on the fringe.
Then again, there was a ‘No Fear’ brand T-shirt I saw some years ago which bore the legend: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space”
“so edgy”
no seriosuly. think about it.
good stuff. I def. agree, thank you for this great post. I think most people that read this blog are either edgy or want to be edgy.
Sound advice Hugh, particularly the use of plural regarding “edges”. There’s only so much you can push one edge before you have to turn the evolution into a revolution and find a new place to innovate and experiment
This made a great deal of sense to me, today this lesson seems to be coming at me from all points. Thanks for laying your thoughts out this way, it really helped me to internalize some issues I have been dealing with .
Excellent. I’m an edgaholic. Can’t stand the middle, even when it would be better for survival. Now if I can just get the companies I work for to stop being so pedestrian.
As a lifelong Edgeling, I am wondering whether living on the edge is something people do because of the way they are wired, or is it something that can be learned? My personal experience is that I am wired this way — I tried conforming to some extent when I was younger but never really felt like it was authentic to who I was as a person.
As for a company/brand’s job to be interesting, I always find it amusing that people strive for this yet when it comes to things as fundamental as hiring folks they use traditional methods and look for people whose careers follow linear paths.
Your insights are thoughtful, now what do you suggest people do in order to push on the edge?
I’m always inspired by your edgeling behavior, Mr. MacLeod. Thanks for putting this natural urge of mine into words. Waiting impatiently for your book.
what’s the difference between a herd and a flock?
If you amazing and interesting but living on the edge you’ll pretty soon attract others, a flock, which pretty soon will look like a herd and suddenly your not the edge any more your the middle.
So be edgy and shit to ensure you stay on the edge.
Even tennis was once edgy
Viva la Edgelings!
If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much space in the World.
As mantra’s go, I love this.
“if you’re on the hunt for “Interesting”, you’re going to find it far more easily on the edges”; maybe because they force you to pick a side. On the edge, you are much further away from your opposite.
By being an edge, you take a stand on something; therefore taking a stand against the opposite. Anyone in the center is not even around for the conversation (Mervyns; K mart)
But someone needs to be in the middle for there to be an edge. Do we need to trample the bodies of the too slow/too boring? Can someone “interestingly” hold the middle?
Don’t you just love “dancing on the line”
…you take one step over, then one step back…it is almost like the hokey-pokey…and isn’t that what it is all about?
Couldn’t agree more. The masses suck up whatever nonsense is put in front of them; that’s what makes them the masses. Life’s too short for mediocrity, so live at the edges.
It seems to me that the sheep in the middle of the herd don’t see much of what’s out there beyond the herd, and must rely on the edgelings to warn them when the wolves are approaching. Or inform them where the next bit of edible grass is. Without those on the edge, the herd is lost.
Save the herd. Be an edgeling.
Gordie
@biblinski
It’s probably not an either or. I’d suggest the strongest genes in the human pool came from ancestors who lived on the edge — took risks to gain more food, reward, children, recognition — without going too far to get killed.
The hunters who hunted best, and the gatherers who gathered more, pushed hard, won, and passed their genes on to children.
You might then extrapolate that the modern safety and comfort of society has removed the need for Edgelings … since we have all the food and energy and shelter we need. So the instinct of the followers to follow the Herd is now re-emerging.
Humanity may thus be on a tipping point. Do we still push to the edge? Or do we let comfort draw us to the herd?
See people at the end of Wall-E for cautionary tale
the edge is here.
THE EDGE is exactly where it‘s at.
beware the “hard edge” of radical genius.
the edge is hard to define, delineate or render tangible
the edge is all consuming.
EX CULTU ROBUR.
Hmmmm…and when ¨edgelings¨ get there, they find people with their same ¨worldview¨ (as Seth Godin would put it), which gives them some reassurance.
So that´d be the niche herd-market of survival?
Anyways, I find this to be very related to something you wrote a while ago. To me is what justifies taking the first step towards ¨edgelingness¨, it´s Trust Manifesto:
¨Frankly, I think you´re better off doing something on the assumption that you will NOT be rewarded for it, that it will NOT receive the recognition it deserves, that it will NOT be worth the time and effort invested in it¨.
But you know that getting to ¨your¨ edge, IS worth it. And so you do and survive.
In nature the edges are generally the most interesting places, highest diversity and often potentially highly productive parts of the system. If you think of the edges of a forest clearing, or the edges of grassland, it where two different systems meet and it becomes more than both.
In systems of sustainable design like permaculture this is usually recognised and exploited.
Being on the edge is exhilarating and rewarding and I personally can’t stand to be anywhere else…BUT, beware. As much as being on the edge is where its at it is pointless if you are the only one there. As much as edgelings hate the masses you need them. One cannot “be” without the existence of the other. The real key is how to be on the edge and be in the crowd simultaneously. As a famous academic once said on the Bill Maher show “you can be mainstream but don’t be MAINSTEAMED”. That’s when you know you’re cookin. Living in both worlds at the same time.
Nothing interesting happens in the middle.
You really can’t get more right on than that. Indeed, the middle is the worst spot at the party. Mediocre is a terrible word. Don’t know many people that would like to be described as mediocre, but still that’s what so many are.
Can’t be edges without a center … both have their uses, the trick is to know which, for what, when and exactly why.