With the attention economy reeling in 2010, influence becomes one of the most valuable commodities in Social Media, communities and business. To find out who has influence, what influence is and how it will affect our lives and work, MandyLives!com speaks to some of the most influential people in media, marketing, branding and technology in a series of interviews that seek to reveal who the big guns are, and who’ll be grabbing attention this year.
There’s no better person to kick off the series than writer Ivo Vegter. A man who’s oxygen is argument and debate, Vegter is an independent thinker, writer and libertarian who you’ll find writing for better publications like The Daily Maverick and ITWeb.
MandyLives!com: Who are you?
Ivo Vegter: Ivo Vegter, a columnist on technology, economics, environment, and politics.
What influence do you have?
I derive whatever influence I have from the publications I work for. Maverick (now thedailymaverick.co.za) is read by smart, original people, mostly in the business sector. ITWeb and Brainstorm are dominant in the technology and telecoms sector. Quantifying influence is hard to do, but I’d like to think I make readers think on occasion.
Who are the most influential writers in South Africa?
I’m not sure I want to offer a comprehensive list. (See “what does influence mean to me”). I try to read widely, and who I find convincing depends on the quality of their arguments. Those are the people I believe are most influential. At the risk of leaving out people, names that spring to mind are Tim Cohen and Stephen Grootes (news/politics), as well as Toby Shapshak and Duncan McLeod (tech).
Who were the most influential newsmakers of 2009? How will their influence shift in 2010?
Tough question. The obvious choice is Jacob Zuma himself. He is connected, for good or evil, to almost every major story. Sadly, with few exceptions, the most influence in this country is wielded by government officials.
I’m interested to watch the performance of Pravin Gordhan (finance), Trevor Manuel (planning), and Rob Davies (trade & industry). I worry about the ideological background of the former, which made him an excellent tax collector, but a troubling choice to lead our economy out of stagnation. Manuel might (along with Collins Chabane) make government service delivery more efficient, but what kind of services, and how they will impact on our economy, depends on Gordhan. Davies has an interesting opportunity to whittle away at the dominance of the state and state-owned enterprises, by encouraging private-sector innovation.
His will be a tough job, but he has expressed his willingness to review whatever law and regulation stands as a barrier to a more prosperous South Africa. Davies can unleash the effort, commitment and innovation of individual South Africans, who alone can make this nation great.
Of course, the ANC Deployment Committee wields indecent amounts of influence in large tracts of South Africa’s political, civic and economic life. It will continue to do so in 2010, bolstering the power and influence of the ruling party’s politicians as a result.
Which local media have the most influence over the most influential people in South Africa?
With the demise of the Weekender, the Mail & Guardian stands virtually alone as an influential newspaper. The Financial Mail retains influence in the business sector, and TheDailyMaverick (for which I have the honour of writing) appears to be rapidly gaining a following that could make it very influential in time.
In general terms, however, I think the media, partly due to its own failings, and partly due to historical mistrust in government circles, doesn’t have as much influence on South Africa’s really influential people — the politicians — as it likes to think.
Who are the most influential thinkers in South Africa today?
Hard to say, since I don’t move in government circles. I’m more interested in free-market economics thinkers such as Ayanda Khumalo, Moeletsi Mbeki and Leon Louw.
Which (local or international) writers and columnists influence you?
PJ O’Rourke. Hackneyed, I know, but there you have it. Also, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, James Taranto, Bjørn Lomborg, and the writers of the Austrian school: Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, et al.
Do PR practitioners exert any influence? Could they become more influential?
In my case, no and no. For news reporters they’re much more important, but primarily as facilitators. Facilitating access carries influence, but only implicitly.
Who was the most influential person you interviewed, engaged or wrote about in 2009?
John Maynard Keynes. He’s dead, but his 80-year-old legacy lives on, sadly. I will write about him for a long time to come, I fear.
Which person of influence would you most like to interview and why?
Mohammad Yusuf, the founder of Grameen Bank. All the other names that spring to mind are too dead to talk with, and his venture points to the possibility of a true grassroots solution to poverty in the developing world. I’ve always held that this is possible, and he is proving exactly that. This should be the ultimate aim of all political economics, should it not?
What does influence mean to you?
Ideas. Being able to make points in such a way that people are both encouraged and enabled to begin rethinking common preconceptions. For me, this means startling people out of complacency, presenting them with facts, and offering relentless logic in support of an idea worth promoting. This spreads, to quote the TED slogan, ideas worth spreading.
In my view, influence is not so much about people, as about ideas and arguments. It doesn’t matter who makes the argument, if its premises are sound, its logic convincing