The Secret Fight Club

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One of my top three movies of all times is Fight Club. I’ve seen it seventeen times as of July 2009. I’m fascinated with lots of different things in the movie (and I loved the book very much – read it before I saw the movie). My current favorite part reminds me a lot of what’s going on these days.

My favorite part is when Brad Pitt and Edward Norton start shifting from just fighting into putting together a nationwide (international?) presence. Wherever you see a black eye or a missing tooth, it’s someone involved with Fight Club, and they all treat each other a little more special than they do the general public, because they’re in something together. It’s a movement of sorts, and that’s what author Chuck Palahniuk was exploring at some parts: how group activities for men have changed (evaporated!) in more recent years.

Here’s the thing: in some ways, what we’ve got going with social media feels like that secret club. It feels like we’re part of something.

The guy in the picture is Steve Wright, VP of marketing (or something like that) up at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont. When he caught some of my tweets that I was in the area, he dropped me a line and said I should swing by for a ride on their tram, and a little lunch.

Steve was so friendly, and so kind, and the ride in the tram (up 4000-ish feet into the heavy clouds hugging the mountain) was a blast. Lunch was very kid-friendly (important to parents on the road), and it was just a fun, unplanned adventure.

The Secret Fight Club

Basketball professional and businessman Shaquille O’Neal ( @the_real_shaq on Twitter) tweeted this message out famously many months back: “To all twitterers , if u c me n public come say hi, we r not the same we r from twitteronia, we connect.” Other celebrities like MC Hammer are so real that when you finally meet and spend time with them (I’ve hung out briefly at TechCrunch40 and also at CES in Vegas), they’re just as human as anyone else.

Podcasters and bloggers regularly reach out and do great things for each other. They share expenses to attend conferences. My friend, Zane Aveton famously tweeted her way into a ride and lodging to attend SXSW this past March.

This is really astounding, if you think about it, the amount of good will that we pass around in this space. And it’s not relegated to “big names,” whatever that means any more. It’s everyone. People DO things for each other in this space. They give first and give often.

(That last part is the secret sauce: fail to give and you’ll find yourself in a karmic imbalance that usually corrects itself quite obviously.)

I, for one, am always excited about it. I love contributing in my own special ways to the secret fight club. I love giving to causes, helping raise for other causes, and finding ways to get more and more people into jobs that build this space up.

Are You Part of the Secret Fight Club?

Think about it. Are you giving to the secret fight club? Are you building small powerful networks? Are you helping others find work, or sharing whatever your professional cool offering is? Are you the Adam Wallace or Brian Simpson of your organization, offering a plate of free bacon at the bar?

It’s SO easy, so rewarding, and a hell of a lot of fun. Join in.

What’s your contribution?

The Secret Bonus Round

(I added this in after the first push of the post, so folks who only get one RSS copy might not even SEE this.)

What if YOU started something that identifies you as part of the SFC? What if YOU figured out a way to pass around the symbol, such that others knew you were contributing? Maybe it doesn’t have to be as explicit, but then again, wouldn’t a secret signal, sign, symbol, whatever, be cool?

Blog some ideas, and let’s pass this “secretfightclub” tag and idea around a bit. Cool?