I agree… Although, we contract our janitor and I can’t seem to get anything out of her other than “Don’t put anymore half-full cups in the trash.” At least she’s an optimist.

Kyle, I agree with Olivier. Anyone can be an evangelist, the worst thing IMO that a brand can do is try to pigeon hole their evangelists. They come in all varieties and that’s what I think is so awesome about fan movements.

With RAGE we have student body presidents and teens that have pocket protectors and they both evangelize.

Kyle: IMHO, everyone from the janitor to the CEO should (in theory) be an evangelist for an organization, product, brand or worthwhile idea. That’s the “perfect world” scenario that we should strive towards.

Real world application:

1)Organizations should review their hiring criteria and ask themselves each person applying for a position (or already working there) is capable of acting as an evangelist. So HR needs to be involved in recruiting the right types of people into the culture of the organization. It takes more insight and courage than simply matching qualifications to job requirements.

Honestly, if someone in your organization is not capable of evangelizing it, why are they there?

2)Organizations should strive to give their people every reason to BE evangelists. (This is not the same as creating a culture of evangelism within an organization - which can come across as fake and contrived.)

It’s a tall order either way.

Can anybody be an evangelist? How important are personality traits for the transition?