Domino Theory Blog

Dominos Have Been Tipped for Topple Two Night

I'm pleased to let everyone know I just returned from meeting with the fine folks at the post office and dominos are now in the mail.

I'll keep tipping and shipping dominos all week.  There's still time to recruit people.  Remember, all that you need to do is have people email info@toplers.com.  Everything takes care of itself from there.

At the end of this post I've included a sample letter that one of the participants sent to recruit their friends/family.  Feel free to copy/modify it to get some more folks interested.

When you receive your package you will find one domino to pass on, and a set of instructions for yourself, the wait staff, and the recipient.  The instructions are intended to be folded and torn. You'll see when you get them...

I know people are excited, confused, scared, etc.  How about posting some comments?  Let's talk!  If you receive my blog via a reader or email, just click on the headline.  That will take you to the blog site and you can post a comment.

Currently we have coverage in 6 states.  Still missing a few biggies like Texas, Florida, NY. 

View Larger Map

Here's the latest Google Map of where the dominos are being shipped.  The markers are in the general proximity of the address.  I didn't think it would be a good idea to be precise.  The map is interactive - you can double click to zoom, and grab and drag to look around.

The letter for recruiting is next...  Thanks for playing along.  There will be some very surprised people on May 16 the.  And I'm not talking about the recipients - I mean YOU!  You won't believe how fun this is and how great it will feel.

- Herb

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Dear _____,

I'm sending you this email because I thought that you might be interested in participating in a "pay-it-forward" social experiment that a friend of mine is conducting. It's based around something called Domino Theory. On May 16th, my friend Herb is trying to get 100 people to buy dinner for a stranger as a random act of kindness. It doesn't matter if you are at an expensive restaurant buying dinner for a family or at Chipotle buying dinner for an individual. In return for your act of kindness, he's hoping to donate $10 to www.ONE.org when each person who receives dinner from you (and a domino) returns and registers on his site. If you participate you will be a part of something very new and fun. In a nutshell, this is what he is trying to do:

The Goal:
- Sign up 100 people to buy dinner for a stranger on May 16th
- Donate $1,000 as a result of the participation by the people you've bought dinner for when they return to the website and register
- Measure the effectiveness of Domino Theory
- Implement more social good in the future
- Most importantly, have fun!

The Details:
1. Sign up to be a part of the experiment by no later than Friday, May 9th by sending an email to: info@toplers.com and saying that you want to participate (you'll need to include your name and mailing address so that he can mail you a domino and instructions). If you can do it NOW, that would be great so that he has enough time to get you a domino.

2. He will "snail mail" you instructions and a single domino to be passed on to whomever you've chosen to buy dinner for on the 16th (it must be a stranger)

3. After you've bought dinner and passed on your domino you're done. That's it. Feel good, you just participated in something called a "tople" and put the domino theory into effect

4. Herb will report back to you how things went via his BLOG. You can also read more about this if you want to by visiting his website: www.toplers.com/2

Just so you know, I will be participating and buying someone dinner too. Herb is a cool guy trying to do something innovative and is funding this by himself. If you can be a part of it, that would be great.

Sign up today if you can so that we can have the dominos to you by the 16th.

Sincerely,

Domino Theory Core Concepts and FAQ

OK, here's the latest.  Still taking shape, but starting to crystallize...

What is Domino Theory?

A framework for seeing how to make a big impact in the World based on a set of core beliefs.

What are those core beliefs?

On sec, a few more definitions first...

What is a Topple?

A cause with a specific purpose.  In a topple one action leads to another.  Topples can "split" into branches.

What is a Branch?

A part of a topple that can be tied back to one person's specific action.

What is a Toppler?

Someone that takes action by passing on a domino.

What is a Domino?

A uniquely numbered object (either physical or virtual).  The more they look like a real domino the better.   However, you can also think of a domino as a person in the chain.

What is a Receiver?

Someone that receives a domino, but hasn't yet been inspired, educated, or incented enough to become a tipper.

What's a Tipper?

See Toppler.

Why are you doing this?

Because it sucks to feel like you can't make a difference or change things that are important to you.

OK, so what the heck are the core beliefs

They are an evolving understanding of the most basic philosophical tenets of Domino Theory.  Currently:

1. Small Dominos Can Tip Big Dominos
2. A Clear, Powerful Purpose Is Important for Chain Reactions
3. There Are “Tricks” for Improving The Odds of Success
4. Setting Up A Big Topple Takes Time and Patience
5. "Impact Energy” increases as the topple grows
6. Topples Frequently Start New Topples
7. Being a "Toppler" Means Learning from Inevitable Setbacks
8. Fear and Self-Doubt are the Main Reasons Topples fail
9. It Happens All Around Us Once We Start to Notice

Isn't this all a bit confusing?

Probably.  But that's really not that important to me right now.  I'm trying to figure this all out, then I can make it easier to digest.  I'm taking advantage of the fact that no one is paying any attention anyway.  Once the masses show up I'll have it all nice and pretty and they'll build a temple in my name.

You really aren't that funny are you?

No.  But I used to be.

Getting Gen 1 To Enlist Others

I'm learning a lot about what's easy and what's hard as we promote Topple Two Night.  One of the surprising things is that  people who have signed up have not recruited others - despite being proded to do so (although not very hard).  I would have thought that generation 1 would have brought in another wave of Topplers (gen 2).

I'm very pleased with the number of people signed up (30 and counting), but I would have thought that some of those people would have said to someone "hey, this is super cool, you should check it out."  Now, maybe they have tried to recruit others and the friction in the system (there's a fair amount) has stopped the topple from spreading.  But still, all that you need to do to get someone else to play along is say "email info@toplers.com to learn more."  We tried to keep it pretty simple.

I continue to be fascinated by the process of what is involved in moving from a receiver of a domino to a "tipper" (someone that passes on the domino or recruits others).  I've come to believe the receiver needs the following to become a Toppler: incentive, education, inspiration.  And everyone needs these in different doses, and the tipper has a range of capabilities in providing them to the receiver.  Anyway, more on that later...

So, if we have a nice (although small) set of generation 1 Topplers signed up, how come they haven't recruited more yet?  There must not be enough incentive, education, or inspiration.  Each of those catagories have a huge range of dynamics themselves.  And we've done very little to push on any of them.

But again, if you were me, wouldn't you expect that if a bunch of people said "I would love to participate," and they were asked to recruit others, that they would have some success doing so? 

My conclusion is that being an effective Creator or topples mean making sure there's plenty of incentives, education, and inspiration to motive and prepare others to help spread the cause/purpose of the topple.

Inspiring Myself

Today I was roaming the blogosphere commenting on various posts and hoping to get some links pointed back to my blog.  Along the way I came across two "inspirational quote" sites.  I often find them to be kind of shallow, but for some reason they made me stop and think today.  The quotes themselves were good, but what I started thinking about was how something similar might be good for this blog and the toplers.com website.  It's funny that I had that thought even though I'm not really a big fan of the "daily inspiration" thing. 

My thinking goes like this:

This blog is here to inspire people.  To help them see and believe that they can set big things in motion.  Sometimes it takes a little - bite sized - encouragement.  Sure, I can share stories where people have done good things that lead to other good things, but that can be too much at times.  Following the K.I.S.S. principle maybe a little note every once in a while (on the blog or a mailing list or something) would be good.

But then it hit me!  I need this!  Trust me, as much as I write about Domino Theory, there are many days when I say to myself, "What the hell are you doing!  No one is paying any attention.  This will never work.  Get your head out of the clouds!" 

What if I wrote a message to myself every few days and shared that with others?  Interesting idea.  Let's try:

As a Toppler you need to realize that there's a bit of blind faith involved.  It's hard to believe that one person can TRULY make a huge difference. If the path was clear more people would do it.  Keep tipping.