“It is precisely the minds of the first order that will never be specialists. Because it is their very nature to make the whole of existence their problem; and this is a subject on which each of them, in some way, will provide mankind with a new perspective.” revelation, because he can only deserve the name of genius who takes the All, the Essential, the Universal, as the subject of his achievements, not who spends his life explaining some special relationship of things to each other”. – Arthur Schopenhauer, “The Art of Literature”

“We are in an era that assumes that ever narrower trends of specialization are logical, natural, and desirable. Consequently, society expects all sincerely responsible communication to be neatly brief. The advancement of science has now discovered that all known cases of biological extinction have been caused by overspecialization, whose concentration of only selected genes sacrifices overall adaptability. Therefore, the specialist’s summary to point out brevity is doubtful. Meanwhile, humanity has been deprived of an understanding specialization has generated feelings of isolation, futility, and confusion in individuals. It has also resulted in the individual leaving responsibility for thought and social action to others. Specialization generates prejudices that ultimately add up as international and ideological discord , which, in turn, leads to war”. – Buckminster Fuller, “Synergetics”

What is your job?

We live in an age where people are more likely to ask “What do you do for a living?” instead of the more appropriate “How are you?” People are expected to specialize. Granted, I’m speaking in general. I am a generalist

But what if people heeded the advice and warnings of a Schopenhauer or a Fuller? Is it possible that they become more fully human? More complete as we say? More lady or gentleman, as the code once was?

Bloggers, from what I’ve seen in my years of blogging, tend to be more generalists than specialists, except for a few who are both… that is, they have extensive knowledge and interests, but also have one or two things that they they know a lot about.

Business bloggers ideally fall into the latter category. They know a lot about your company, service, products, etc., but they also have a broadband tune that allows them to connect with people of all walks of life, types, and interests. After all, one should not expect a customer to know all the fine points of what he is looking to buy, however, the salesperson must know those fine points, but also a lot about the customer. This is where an understanding of broadband comes in handy.

The business blogger is a specialist AND a generalist. And if not, he may want to remedy the situation, one way or another. The kindest way is to educate them.

If they don’t know about the products or services…teach them about them. If they don’t know how to write, how to deal with people, the push and pull of conversation… you have a more difficult problem, but not insurmountable. Only one that can take more time. So when you hire your business bloggers, look for those with decent social and verbal skills first. You can show them the offer in less time.

For Everything, There Is An Experienced Blogger

But… should you hire an experienced blogger or a new blogger? Wouldn’t it be better to create your own Frankenstein and have them just say what you want them to say?

My vote goes to the experienced bloggers, for a variety of reasons. The former is perhaps best exemplified in this quote also from “The Art of Literature”:

“There are, first of all, two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject and those who write for writing. While some have had thoughts or experiences that seem worthy of communicating, the others want money; and so they write, for money. “Their thinking is part of the business of writing. They can be recognized by the way they stretch their thoughts as far as possible; then, also, by the very nature of their thoughts, which are only half-true, perverse, forced hesitating, moreover, from the aversion they generally show to saying anything directly, to make them appear different from what they are, so that their writing is wanting in clarity and precision, and it is not long before they betray that their sole object in writing it is to cover the paper.This happens sometimes with the best authors, from time to time, for example, with Lessing in his Dramaturgie, and even in many of Jean Paul’s romances.The readers perceive this, come on throw the book; because time is precious. The truth is that when an author begins to write to cover paper, he is deceiving the reader; because he writes under the pretext that he has something to say.

Writing for money and the reservation of copyrights are, at bottom, the bane of literature. No one writes anything worth writing unless he writes entirely for the sake of his subject. What a priceless blessing it would be if in each branch of literature there were only a few books, but such excellent ones! This can never happen, as long as you make money writing. It seems as if money is under a curse; because every author degenerates as soon as he begins to put pen to paper in any way for the sake of profit. The best works of great men all come from the time when they had to write for nothing or very little. – “The Art of Literature”

Experienced bloggers have often been writing for years for little or no money. People who say they’ll write a blog if you pay them can write what they’re told, but in that case, why not write it yourself?

The blog and the cane

“The pen is to thought what the cane is to walking; but you walk more easily when you have no cane, and you think most perfectly when you have no pen in your hand. It is only when a man begins to grow old that he likes to use a stick and is glad to pick up his pen. – “The Art of Literature”

Another advantage of hiring experienced bloggers is that you can see where they’ve been, see what they’ve written on the blog, whether or not they can keep writing over time. A new blogger can run out of things to say. Experienced bloggers are because they are still writing. The others call them ex-bloggers.

New bloggers might enjoy blogging for a while, but then they’re overtaken by a youthful wanderlust, and the next thing they know, they’re chasing ghosts. A good seasoned blogger, on the other hand, is woven into the fabric of the blogosphere and is content to make their mark there. And since they are part of the blogosphere, they are not an island, but a constellation or, in some cases, a galaxy. He hasn’t hired one person who says yes, he has potentially hired dozens or hundreds, even thousands of people who say yes. I dare say that in some cases, I may even have won millions of people who say yes. These, of course, are few and far between, but the future is likely to look very different from the past.

And if you get the occasional chorus of refusals, count your lucky stars which has a free feedback mechanism. His adjustments could turn out much better for the press than the grunts that led to the change. And all companies change. Only some never learn the reasons why they should have and suffer the consequences of their ignorance.

The question is not yes. is when. So when you’re hiring someone (or a team of people) to connect your business to the blogosphere, you may want to keep a few of these points in mind. Your blog doesn’t need to be literature, but there’s nothing wrong with having a beautifully written, uplifting body of work associated with your company. Over time, it may be your greatest legacy. Because surely a future Twain or Faulkner or Ogilvy will be born in these discovery-enabling laboratories. And the world needs more jobs, not fewer. Choose, act, but act wisely. It’s good to be the first. But it is better to be good.