There is a firestorm going on with the Carnival of the Capitalists today.

I’d clicked over to pick up the new link for the week for our Ho‘ohana Community Online listing (what I’m talking about is here) and read this:

Welcome to this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists, which is my privilege to host for the second time.

I’ve just come back from a week’s skiing in Austria to find over 50 excellent entries in the carnival’s mail box. While I’ve duly read and mulled over each of them, I can’t help thinking that it’s a daunting task for you, the reader, to give all these great bloggers the attention they deserve in one mega-session.

So I’ve unilaterally decided to break with tradition slightly and publish one batch today and another on Wednesday. Sorry if you hate the idea, but if I’ve made your life a little easier, I’m pleased. Either way, leave a comment below or drop me an email (russell AT mobhappy DOT com) and let me know what you think, so other hosts can take board your feedback.

Well, so far the more vocal customers are not happy with Russell’s break from tradition. You can click over there and read the comment string: There are some lessons in customer focus and marketing to be learned there. This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists.

I’m pointing it out to you because while Russell may have had very good intent with his decision, one’s circle of influence is something we who wish to reinvent must be aware of, and be realistic about. There is so much we can all do within our own Kuleana first: Start there, and do it well so that you will have a grand stage from which to launch your future efforts as your circle of influence grows with each success.

In our Reinvention Forum, Wayne had talked about involving everyone concerned in reinvention decisions, and his article is well worth another read when framed in this real-time case study over at Russell’s Mobile Technology Weblog.
Wayne Hurlbert on Reinvention: Whole Business Marketing.

There are two different customers involved here, the authors who submit their articles each week, and those who read them (which includes many in the first group as well.) Let’s think about this:

What kind of reinvention could Russell have done instead that would make the Carnival fresh this week, but not break from tradition in such an alarming way for so many? What do you think?

Related posts:
Working within your Circle of Influence.
The Reinvention Forum Index.
I’ve written about the Carnival two other times:
Carnival of the Capitalists.
So far, I subscribed to 3 new blogs this morning.

Tags: Reinvention. Tradition. Customer Focus. Circle of Influence.