Sunday, July 15, 2007

Gift and Market Economy

I was at a marketing seminar last week (www.freepublicity.com) and was struck by the realization that the most powerful part of the course for me was our participation in a gift economy. The leader had us introduce ourselves by telling who we were, what we did, what we needed, and what we had to offer. Participants who were ostensibly looking for ways to get products and services out and noticed by the market economy (ie, you pay me money for what I have to offer) actually connected more deeply with each other by offering their services as a gift to each other, out of the love of sharing. So, here we were at a marketing course learning about techniques and strategies for material success but finding out on the side that giving is actually more rewarding and longer lasting. If I just buy a book or a product from you, our exchange is very short. However, giving you something creates relatedness that lasts far beyond that exchange; it's like we're connected more deeply now, not just symbolically through the exchange of money. It comes from the heart rather than the head.

Soon we're going to start a gift economy with my book, because I describe and paint a picture of a gift economy in it. I'll give more details when the time is nearer.