Are you living a platform life?
How you can choose a more enduring path.
We live in the age of platforms.
The developed world’s operating system is a platform.
We make a name for ourselves–and die to ourselves–on platforms.
We buy most of our stuff on platforms.
We do most of our communication on platforms.
We carefully and selectively curate our image of who we are for all to see.
Young leaders are taught that in order to have influence, they need to build a platform.
In fact, it matters less and less who you are in real life because you can create the avatar of who you want people to think you are. You can be a carefully curated “you.” You can gain fame, notoriety, and be an influencer, not because of something you have done, but because you know how to “win” on the platform. You can write a leadership book and be a leadership influencer even if you haven’t really led anything substantial.
This is the era of digital presence over action. Perception over reality. Words over integration.
A 2023 survey of 1,000 GenZers in their early teens to mid-20s found that remarkably 57% wanted to become influencers. This is the ultimate expression of platform life. Increasingly young people, more than anything else, want to be famous. Fame, however achieved, is seen as the path to happiness and a good life.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am not a fan of the current “platform mentality” that pervades our culture. There are many merits and benefits to the digital world we live in, but I am not convinced it is forming us into better people.
Mark Sayers’ new book Platforms and Pillars offers insight to understanding the current “platform world.” The smartphone and internet rapidly accelerated the way we communicate, shop, and participate in nearly every aspect of life with Google, Facebook and Amazon. These platforms promised community, connection, efficiency and a better life. Twenty years in, they have absolutely delivered on efficiency, but one might argue that they have eroded connection, human thriving, and institutional trust.
Sayers takes this one step further: the algorithms, habits, and attention economy have formed a platform mentality in us. “The platform mentality is based on the concept that the highest good is for our inner self to be platformed and for our needs, wants and desires to be met.” In many of us, this has led to a hyper focus on individualism and performance, leading to increased anxiety, loneliness and mistrust.
When the world zigs, I recommend you zag. Often, the countercultural approach is how you become your true self, not the false self the world nudges you towards. So what is the zag to the platform zig? As Mark Sayer says, become a pillar. He describes a pillar as this:
“Pillars provide an essential part of human, social, cultural and relational life. Through their resilience, courage, and fortitude, pillars bear load for others by taking responsibility and offering support and encouragement. They work with other pillars to pass down the generations’ vital knowledge and wisdom through instruction and the example of their lives. Living this way, pillars create space for others to succeed and flourish. They do this through service, sacrifice, self-denial, and living for the greater good.”
In other words, be firmly planted, strong in your conviction to stay grounded in who you are and your values regardless of circumstance. Serve, sacrifice, and self-deny in order to live for the greater good. Be clear about who you are–and you are not–so that you can create space for others to thrive.
Unfortunately, those words sound a bit foreign from the era of leadership seen in the headlines everyday. Platforms don’t encourage these behaviors–rather, the opposite. Platforms want us to consume space from others, make sure the cameras are on us at all times, and use the algorithm of platform life for self gain. Pillars live and lead with a deep grounding in values and commitment to collective hard work to accomplish something extraordinary. They desire to accomplish the mission, not for their self promotion on a platform, but for those they are leading with and for.
As you sort through the nuances of this concept, here are few thoughts:
It is hard to resist the platform life. It is like denying your middle-school daughter a smartphone knowing that her entire social life is routed through it. Can you succeed in life ignoring the platform world? Probably not. But intent and balance are key.
Focusing on becoming a pillar as your true self is perhaps the best way not to get sucked into the downsides of platform life. We become what we give our attention to. Additionally, you probably need to create some ground rules of engagement in the platform world to guard against your heart and attention drifting back to the cultural default.
Rest assured, underneath every healthy, values-driven, highly successful organization stand a few “pillars” who model the values and show how to collectively “win” at the mission for the long run, not the short term. This is level 5 leadership, as Jim Collins calls it.
I have found that “Pillars” are not trying to personally “win” on the platforms. They are too busy and focused on leading and doing the work in their communities and organizations. You have to seek them out and search for them because they are not “Here I am” leaders.
Pillars have a long-term mentality. They are working to build something enduring, something that will serve and anchor a community for generations. Platform leaders have a short term focus. They are building for their next Linkedin post, their next promotion, their next job to be announced on the platform.
In success or failure, in good times or bad, Pillars stay true to their values. You always can depend on a pillar. Platform leaders, not so much. A life and career built on a “‘look at me” mentality will crumble in hard times. When success is the number one goal, values are secondary, fungible, and ultimately in service of performance.
The world wants us to live with a platform mentality. All the incentives are there. And yet, I think the path to our true selves–and to making a long-lasting contribution to the communities we care about–is by becoming a pillar.
Reflection of the Week: Are you living with a platform mentality? What could you do differently to start living like a pillar?