“Everyone should wear nametags, all the time, everywhere, forever.”
That’s my thesis, philosophy, dangerous idea and theory of the universe.
My name is Scott, and I’ve been wearing a nametag for past four thousand days.
And after traveling to hundreds of cities, a dozen countries, four continents, meeting tens of thousands of people, constant experimentation and observation, building a enterprise and writing a dozen books in the process, I believe, with all my heart, that the societal implications of wearing nametags could change everything.
This is my manifesto:
9. The End of Incivility:
If everybody wears nametags, we are instantly and consistently accountable.
With nametags, we lack constant invitations for selfish behavior. There’s less incentive to get away with bad behavior, because there are always people watching to positively modify our behavior through healthy doses of social pressure.
With nametags, we give others the priceless gift of security by letting them know who they’re dealing with. That’s why we get better service from employees and better customers for those employees. Because there’s nothing to hide behind. Our identity is always verified. There’s a social construct that forces us to sign our work, put our name on it and take a stand for our identity.
Now, there’s no temptation to act from a position of anonymity. Nametags paint us into more accountable corners. They’re micro-structures we put into place to limit ourselves to only practicing honorable action. Nametags take away all our choices. They permanently position us in situations where acting in accordance with our values is the only plausible course of action. The structure installed bankrupts bad behavior.
It’s social contract. We resign it every day. And we wear it on our chest for all to see, public, so we can’t run away from it. When you sign your name to it, you own it.
It’s accountability through attribution. By directly tying our actions to our real identity, by connecting the individual to what they do – and making that connection explicit to the rest of the community – we make better decisions. We think before acting. We consider the potential repercussions that arise from direct accountability.
If everybody wears nametags, no more inconsistency, no more road rage and no more social coarseness.
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You can read The Nametag Manifesto, in full, for free, right now, here.
LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s your manifesto?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Publisher, Artist, Mentor
[email protected]
Now booking for 2012 – 2013!
Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!
