The lurkers
It’s frustrating for anyone who leads.
If everyone who says that they’re a contributor/member/supporter/fan/long-term customer showed up, huge things would happen.
So we spend a lot of time hustling to get the lurkers to take action. Post again! Create more incentives! Dumb it down! Most of all, focus on creating urgency.
This isn’t how progress actually happens.
The 95% who lurk will almost always lurk. That’s okay.
The place to focus is on the 5%. Because when their persistent, consistent and generous action begins to add up, change happens. And that brings the lurkers along. It might even activate them. They’ll catch up when they need to.
There’s nothing wrong with lurkers. Lurkers are potential action-takers.
For now, though, our focus, our energy and our gratitude is for the people who are already showing up.