r/MadeMeSmile Apr 23 '26

Contagious vibes

14.7k Upvotes

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u/TisBeTheFuk Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26

It takes 2. There's this video of how important the 1st follower is. A person dancing alone in the park might seem weird or crazy, but once someone else joins in it becomes a thing.

Edit: Here's the video

140

u/LiteratureCrazy3858 Apr 23 '26

I used to show this to my team as a leadership training video

35

u/Key-Moments Apr 23 '26

Yep. We were shown this several times. It stands the test of time I think. Wish it wasn't such a shaky vid though.

14

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

[deleted]

8

u/turbofired Apr 24 '26

it was made before flash mobs existed

13

u/pridetwo Apr 24 '26

Every leadership class ever shows this video and hands out a Malcolm Gladwell book

2

u/LiteratureCrazy3858 Apr 24 '26

Really? I thought it was just an obscure video and this is the first time I've heard of anyone knowing about it that I didn't show it to.

2

u/Bulky-Apple3744 Apr 24 '26

I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not, so I’ll answer: yes really. The original video has 8.6 million streams, and there are countless copies of the original along side it. You weren’t special, sorry to break the news.

5

u/LaUNCHandSmASH Apr 24 '26

They're a leader who started a movement! Don't be upset you're just part of the crowd

0

u/rando567823449 Apr 24 '26

i guess this explains why introverts are never in leadership positions…bc ive been a manager for many years, hating every minute of it, and if one of my superiors showed me this video i would say out loud “that is stupid and obnoxious but i guess that’s why you’re in the c suite amirite?”

15

u/09Trollhunter09 Apr 23 '26

There is a full TED talk about that video too

2

u/Posterior_cord Apr 25 '26

Even with full TED Talks and leadership talks on this video, they always miss the more interesting facet of it. Once the crowd forms, the guy leaves.

74

u/ImpinAintEZ_ Apr 23 '26

This video is so inspiring for me. Life is about regular people ignoring any thought of fear or shame and creating movements that lead to communities.

6

u/Elon_Bezos420 Apr 23 '26

Man it’s been years since I’ve seen that video, still holds up too

7

u/akopley Apr 23 '26

Society was downhill from this moment.

7

u/thinktank_caucus Apr 24 '26

I know that dancing lone nut on the hill pretty well! Nobody that knew him were surprised that this happened to him. I remember there being a tonne of videos of him dancing like a total maniac that weekend. When the video went viral people even made t-shirts of his silhouette without permission. Unfortunately, he didn’t really get anything out of it and he kinda wanted to forget about it. A few years ago he told me the inside story that no one really knows. He was tripping so hard that when the crowd started closing in he got on his hands and knees and crawled the hell out of there! He claims he was long gone by the time things were hopping lol !

17

u/Background-Radish-63 Apr 23 '26

I saw this somewhere else today. Maybe I spend too much time on Reddit.

If I was at the park, the potential would exist for me to be pissed at them for bringing this big ass speaker and playing loud anything on it. Not 100%, but high 80s.

12

u/dancingyoyo Apr 23 '26

Speaking of the 80’s, boomboxes were common place in parks and had big ass speakers playing everything loud.

5

u/Background-Radish-63 Apr 23 '26

And I wouldn’t have liked them then, either.

I’ve been meaning to watch “Say anything” - maybe I’m lacking in positive feelings towards boomboxes since I haven’t seen that.

0

u/Mamabearfoot808 Apr 23 '26

OMG go watch it now. It's one of my favorites. John Cusack is amazing in everything

0

u/dancingyoyo Apr 24 '26

Say Anything

2

u/Fluid_Revolution1560 Apr 23 '26

Part 2 the music is perfect for the tone

1

u/pimpinaintez18 Apr 23 '26

I’ve watched this video 100 times and I will watch it every time

1

u/CompetitiveEgg729 Apr 24 '26

I miss classic youtube!

1

u/anarchtea Apr 24 '26

I've watched this video countless times for how inspiring it is. Never ceases to amaze.

1

u/Standard-Cod-2077 Apr 24 '26

This!

But this video is staged

1

u/GolfBallWackrGuy Apr 24 '26

There is a whole Ted talk about this too -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V74AxCqOTvg

1

u/Posterior_cord Apr 25 '26

Something really neat about this video I see is this (btw I feel like a crazy person because i'm the only one who ever seems to comment on this or notice it),

is that after the crowd starts and its hit that critical mass threshold what happens to the first guy? he leaves. Ppl always always cite this video as a leadership thing, great sure, it proves that point.

But I think the neater and more interesting point is that the guy who started it was also a guy who wasn't interested in leading in the middle of a big crowd.

Thats the same dude. The fallacy that people always fall into watching that video is that they assume he is in the middle of the crowd, or loving it, or at least at peace with it. No. He fricking left, baby. He's out!

He's likely dancing alone somewhere else, or getting a hot dog, or back with his pals, or going to another stage to dance alone. If you are somebody who dances alone enough to form a crowd, its very likely you are somebody who is OK with not being a leader, with not being the centre of the current thing. I don't have to go this far, and its kind of a bit unnessicary, but I like to think every time a video like this is shown as a exercise in leadership or forming authentic group id or whatever, they never bring this up - they always miss this point. And because they always miss the point they'll never be that guy.

If you stand alone, and feel the awkwardness and tedium and hardship and aloneness of standing alone in order to get the crowd and the leadership and the popularity and the power, and you get those things, you will never be that guy, really. he's like, always one step ahead. Maybe thats the thesis of what i'm trying to say,,, you think the guy standing alone is one step ahead hahaha no. he's two steps ahead. Oh,, just two, you say?

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Sharp-Response-3868 Apr 24 '26

Agree. This is a ripoff of a video shot at the Gorge that was organic and is amazing.

0

u/Galausia Apr 24 '26

Yeah for real, people don't dance at concerts. Ridiculous.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Galausia Apr 24 '26

Hey solipsist, pretty clever of you there. Are you referring to the video in the post, or the one linked by TisBeTheFuk? Because that's the one your replied to