Meetup網(wǎng)站CEO:商界也有99%與1%之爭
????本月,占領(lǐng)華爾街抗議運(yùn)動在全球范圍內(nèi)迅速蔓延——部分得益于社交網(wǎng)站Meetup的幫助。10月初,這個位于紐約市的組織平臺將其技術(shù)整合到一家名為“一起占領(lǐng)”的網(wǎng)站(Occupytogether.org)之中。此后,從紐約到伊斯蘭堡,世界各地的抗議群體紛紛涌現(xiàn)。迄今為止,在2千多座城市中,總計有超過1.6萬人加入了“一起占領(lǐng)”Meetup群。Meetup正在努力維持這股勢頭,這家網(wǎng)站最近主辦了一次長達(dá)9小時的黑客馬拉松活動,試圖進(jìn)一步推動抗議運(yùn)動對其平臺的使用。 ????Meetup網(wǎng)CEO斯科特?海福爾曼對這些抗議活動并未采取袖手旁觀的態(tài)度。他多次前往抗議活動現(xiàn)場,頻繁在Twitter上發(fā)布與抗議活動相關(guān)的帖子。海福爾曼一直小心翼翼地把他的個人觀點(diǎn)與其公司的立場區(qū)別開來。最近,他接受了《財富》雜志(Fortune)的專訪,縱論抗議活動及其對Meetup網(wǎng)的意義。 ????你本人是一家公司的CEO,但你卻支持這些抗議活動。鑒于抗議活動目前已經(jīng)被貼上反公司的標(biāo)簽,難道你不覺得你的立場有些尷尬嗎? ????一點(diǎn)也不會。首先我要聲明的是,我為抗議活動提供的任何支持,都跟我在Meetup網(wǎng)的職務(wù)沒有關(guān)系。作為一位CEO,我對占領(lǐng)華爾街運(yùn)動的看法是,抗議者希望看到真正的資本主義戰(zhàn)勝權(quán)貴資本主義,強(qiáng)大的經(jīng)濟(jì)源自一個為小企業(yè)和中產(chǎn)階級提供公平競爭機(jī)會的平臺。對壘雙方是1%的企業(yè)與99%的企業(yè)。99%的企業(yè)境遇之所以越來越糟糕,正是由于1%的企業(yè)抱著一種贏家通吃的心態(tài)。大家就1%和99%這一話題所發(fā)表的任何看法,也適用于商業(yè)世界。如果沒有一個充滿活力的小企業(yè)生態(tài)系統(tǒng),就不可能有一個強(qiáng)大的經(jīng)濟(jì)體。占領(lǐng)華爾街運(yùn)動所抨擊的,是1%的企業(yè)對經(jīng)濟(jì)和政府的腐蝕。其矛頭所向并非企業(yè)或資本主義。 ????Meetup一直在積極地支持“一起占領(lǐng)”網(wǎng)站。Meetup是如何下定決心參與這類事情的? ????我們公司有幾個人一直在接觸任何有可能從我們的自組織平臺上獲益的人和事。只要不涉及仇恨或違法行為,他們就會主動去接洽,希望為人們提供幫助,不論這些人是誰。比如,赫爾曼?凱恩即將發(fā)布一套全新的Meetup戰(zhàn)略。我們的內(nèi)心深處真的相信,人們在一個開放的環(huán)境中進(jìn)行交流或許是一件有利于民主的好事。 ????那么,你的意思是不是說,Meetup進(jìn)行的接觸活動是非政治性的? ????絕對與政治無關(guān),這一點(diǎn)毫無疑問。招聘員工時,我們考量的要點(diǎn)之一就是觀察應(yīng)聘者能否看到人們聚集在一起的美妙之處。我們想知道求職者能否克服因看不到與其觀點(diǎn)相左者聚集在一起的好處而產(chǎn)生的不容忍心態(tài)。這其實是公司的根本所在,即人們聚在一起本身就是件好事。 ????抗議活動的發(fā)展壯大會對Meetup產(chǎn)生怎樣的影響? ????這類運(yùn)動對我們的網(wǎng)絡(luò)沒有太大的影響。甚至在霍華德?迪恩競選總統(tǒng)的時候,Meetup上的絕大多數(shù)群體都是在討論如何使自己的生活變得更美好,而與政治或運(yùn)動這類轟轟烈烈的事情以及意見領(lǐng)袖等等沒有任何關(guān)系。我們真的為能夠給予人們力量,幫助人們進(jìn)行自我組織,改善自身世界而自豪;但塵埃落定,煙消云散之后,我們得到的會是一個富有韌性的社會,擁有強(qiáng)勁的小企業(yè),人們共同協(xié)作,互相幫助,共度難關(guān)。人們彼此之間互有交易、租賃、購買、貸款和投?;顒?。這正是公寓對租服務(wù)平臺Airbnb網(wǎng)站、 大眾融資平臺Kickstarter、技能分享網(wǎng)站Skillshare、手工制品電子商務(wù)網(wǎng)站Esty,以及Meetup這類網(wǎng)站的意義所在。這些都是新經(jīng)濟(jì)未來形態(tài)的萌芽。正如我最喜歡的一則抗議標(biāo)語所言,“新的開始就要來了”。 ????在你看來,這場運(yùn)動將走向何方? ????我預(yù)計這場運(yùn)動會繼續(xù)發(fā)展壯大,美國會出現(xiàn)重大的分化。但美國并不會走向類似于60年代的復(fù)興。有人認(rèn)為這場運(yùn)動是嬉皮士和商務(wù)人士之間的又一次對抗,這完全是上世紀(jì)的想法,已經(jīng)不合時宜了。大多數(shù)美國人會逐漸意識到,這場運(yùn)動的參與者真的只是想再次看到以人為本的經(jīng)濟(jì),一個由人民提供動力的政府而已。甚至連茶黨人士和占領(lǐng)華爾街運(yùn)動的參與者之間都有可能存在共識。我認(rèn)為,美國人之間的共同點(diǎn)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)多于黨派之爭給人們留下的印象。 ????譯者:任文科 |
????Occupy Wall Street protests have rapidly spread across the globe this month -- with some help from Meetup. In early October, the NYC based organizing platform integrated its technology into Occupytogether.org and saw groups form everywhere from New York to Islamabad. In all, over 16,000 people in more than 2,000 cities have joined Occupy Together Meetup groups to date. Meetup is working to keep the momentum going, recently hosting a nine-hour hackathon in an attempt to bolster the movement's use of its platform. ????Meetup CEO Scott Heiferman is not watching from the sidelines. He has visited the protests and frequently takes to Twitter to post movement related quotes. While he's careful to make the distinction between his personal views and those held by Meetup the company, he recently spoke to Fortune about the protests and what they mean for his company. ????You're a CEO in support of these protests, isn't that an awkward spot to be in when they've been labeled anti-corporate? ????Not at all. And I should also make clear that any support that I have is not with my Meetup hat on. As a CEO, the way I think of Occupy Wall Street is that it's about seeing a true capitalism winning over a crony capitalism and that a strong economy comes from a level playing field for small business and the middle class. It's like the 1% of business versus the ninety 99% of business. Ninety nine percent of businesses are in worse shape because the 1% of business is in a winner take all mentality. Everything that everyone says about the 1% and 99% applies to the world of business too. You can't have a strong economy without a vibrant ecosystem of small businesses. Occupy Wall Street is about the corruption of the economy and the corruption of government by the 1% of business. The movement is not anti-business or anti-capitalism. ????Meetup has been active in its support for Occupy Together; how does Meetup decide to get involved in something like this? ????We have a couple of people here that are always reaching out to anyone and anything that would benefit from our platform for self organizing. As long as there's no hate involved or anything illegal they just go and schmooze and want to be helpful to whomever. For example, Herman Cain is about to announce a new Meetup strategy. We really, at our core, believe that if people are having a conversation in an open environment that is probably a good thing for democracy. ????So you would say that the reach out done by Meetup is apolitical? ????Absolutely, no doubt about it. When we are hiring people, one of the things we are testing for is whether they can see the beauty in that. We want to know whether they can get over any intolerance about not seeing what's good about people who don't agree with them meeting up with each other. That's just the fundamental mission of the company, which is to say that if people are meeting up it's a good thing. ????As the protests grow, how does that affect Meetup? ????None of this movement stuff has ever made much of a dent in our larger network. Even in the Howard Dean days, the vast majority of Meetups were about people trying to make good stuff happen in their lives having nothing to do with politics or movements or that chattering class kind of stuff. We are really proud to help give people the power to self organize and make the world better for themselves, but when the dust settles and the smoke clears what's left are resilient communities that have strong small businesses and people working together and helping each other out -- they'll be selling to each other, renting to each other, buying from each other, loaning money to each other and insuring each other. That's what Airbnb is about and Kickstarter, Skillshare, Meetup and Esty as well. These are the early signals of what the new economy is going to be. As my favorite sign from the protests says "the beginning is near." ????Where do you see the movement going? ????I do predict it's going to keep growing and I predict that there's going to be a lot of divisiveness in the country. But it's not going to go towards some sort of 60's revival. And this notion that it's the hippies vs. the business people again is just an antiquated 20th century idea. Most of the country will start to realize that this is really just about trying to get a good people powered economy and a people powered government again. There may even be common ground amongst the Tea Partiers and the Occupy Wall Street people. I think we all have a lot more in common than the partisan warfare would have you believe. |