8.8M views · Feb 11, 2010 · 2:58 · 3 HN recommenders · 6 mentions · discussed 2016–2026
Derek Sivers annotates a short clip of a lone dancer at a festival, showing how a first follower turns a ridiculous act into a movement. He draws out lessons about leadership and making it easy to follow.
Why Hacker News points people here: A go-to short explanation of how movements start and why early followers matter.
“Watch this 2 minute to see how this works, you may have seen this before”HN comment, 2022
“This might give you an idea of first followers.”
Explains the importance of a first follower in leading
The challenge I faced earlier was to get things executed ( expected outcome) from different teams. When I found my first follower , the one who really buys my vision and takes it down, things started to roll faster. This might give you an idea of first followers. this video
“Watch this 2 minute to see how this works, you may have seen this before”
Shows how a lone dancer becomes a leader via first follower
What happens when Twitter survives despite reducing headcount by 80-90%? It's going to send a message that companies are more overstaffed than we thought. This may explain an underlying fear driving even some engineers to put their reputation on the line with confident declarations that Twitter is going to fail. Some were saying it wouldn't survive the night. It's now morning. Others saying it won't last the weekend or coming week. We'll soon find out. I would expect some bumps along the way. Twitter Blue was a bump. Perhaps Twitter is just the first to go lean before the recession. Elon merely the first dancer who is willing to look dumb. Now who's going to be the first follower to transform the lone nut into a leader? Watch this 2 minute to see how this works, you may have seen this before: this video Now here's a counterbalance to the fear with an optimistic take: This is a correction. A small number of tech companies have been hoarding talent. The talent gets a 3 month severance and made available to the larger ecosystem.
“Look for opportunities to be a first follower”
Advice to be a first follower when building social life
1) Do something you enjoy *and* that others in your area enjoy. 2) Look for opportunities to be a first follower: this video 3) Build a routine. E.g., this event will happen every 2nd Tuesday of the month.
“I'm always remind of Derek Sivers video on First Followers when I think of them.”
Early followers are crucial to movements and startups
We're really excited about this new series on The Macro about the first employees at startups. First employees are often unsung heroes at companies, but often incredible crucial to getting them off the ground and setting the culture of the startup. I'm always remind of Derek Sivers video on First Followers when I think of them. this video
“You can call it a disorder but it's also human nature.”
Illustrates how dancing crowds spread via followers
> Scientists have described dancing mania as a "collective mental disorder", "collective hysterical disorder", and "mass madness". You can call it a disorder but it's also human nature. I can see this instance being classified as a modern outbreak: this video
“I believe the core essence is simply this”
Used to explain how movements reach a tipping point
I have seriously and honestly asked myself this! In my own head and never publicly, of course. I don't believe it's subject to rational/utilitarian analysis. It has, gradually at first, accelerating to a tipping point, become fashionable (albeit in a very serious way) to seek to protect this category of person. Admittedly reductionist, but I believe the core essence is simply this: this video I think protection, respect, dignity, rights for LGBTQ people is great! But as you note, there is something extra here. It seems like the entire population, which is mostly cis and hetero, is being asked... well, not asked, really. It's not a request anymore, is it? Strongly urged, to deconstruct and overhaul how we think and speak about sex and gender in all contexts and at all times. And this is a bit difficult to square with the goodness of protecting LGBTQ people. It's a little extra. I was going to write that the growth of this movement consists of cishet people ("allies!"), since it's not a recruitment drive to turn people. But then I realized that's not strictly true either. While I do not believe that sexuality and dysphoria are chosen, there is some fuzziness in the [TQ] part. I could, with high sincerity, choose to identify as agender, possibly a bit genderfluid, which under the current rules qualifies me to identify as non-binary, which under the current rules qualifies me to identify myself as transgender. I don't do that. I don't see it as being in my interest, but that could c
