1. n. abuse, discrimination, or exploitation based on rank
2. n. abusive, discriminatory, or exploitative behavior towards people
who have less power because of their lower rank in a particular
hierarchy
So: rankism stinks? It does if you ask me. And certainly if you ask the people from Breaking Ranks.
Do they get your support?
I had a very interesting chat this morning. With Marc Michils, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Belgium and one of the Master Marketeers within the Belgian Marketing Foundation to be precise. We talked about working in advertising, the love of the job, future trends, the importance of higher education,... Nothing special? True, if it weren't for the fact that our little chat was recorded for television.
Why on earth would anybody ask a nobody like myself for a television appearance? To be honest: I was equally surprised when I got a phonecall some weeks ago to tell me "I had been selected." Selected? At last year's Marketing Congress I had participated in a contest for 'young wolves in marketing' who could win an opportunity to talk with one of the leading marketeers in Belgium (one of the activities for the foundation's 25th birthday). The talks were to be recorded and broadcast (one conversation per month between 13 May and 5 December, every time there is a full moon - the 'wolves', get it?) on the Belgian business channel Kanaal Z.
I never thought they would ask me (I am 35 - a young wolf?) but apparently they liked the topic I had suggested (about the relationship between higher education and the communications branch). Naturally, I did not hesitate to accept the invitation. A great experience, and like Andy Warhol said: "In the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes".
Mind you: Kanaal Z is only doing a 3 minutes' broadcast (albeit in a loop, so several times a day). But that's fine by me: that means I still have 12 minutes left!
As far as I can tell, it more or less started here, with Andrea's post on Eric Eggerton admitting he's a nobody in the communication business. There had, of course, already been some events and blog posts leading up to (or following) Andrea's, but personally I only learnt about them later.
What I do know, is that I think - having read the declarational e-mail and the first posts on the I.A.N.'s blog - that the creation of the International Association of Nobodies is a great initiative. And it is not going unnoticed. Even the Ultimate Somebody of social media has been talking about it.
So, if you think you're a nobody too, join the I.A.N. You can email Allan Jenkins, who has been named chairperson by Andrea, to tell him you'd like to join; Ike Piggot can send you a button, which should look something like this:
In the meantime, you can already drop in at the I.A.N. store; remember that all profits go to charity. So, sign up (personally, I think that Sam, Steven, Philip, Stephen, Philippe, Steffen and Tom, to name just a few, would make great nobodies too) and spread the word.
Mind you: Eric Eggerton is apparently concerned about doing so in Europe. He seems to think that "the legal situation there discourages exciting organizations like ours from flourishing unless we jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops." Now, he is probably right. The question is: should we worry too much about that? After all, who is going to take us seriously (at least for now)? We are just a bunch of nobodies, aren't we?
