"The Hundreds": Ancient British Strategies for Online Marketing Domination

I basically live in Harry Potter world. The local town to me is well over a thousand years old, and despite having internet access, we still have a Town Crier who 'Oh-yays' important news in the High Street. Along with that is the ceremonial relic of an ancient system of justice and society, the posts of which remain. If you feel the need, you can run for the office of Ale Taster or whatever. Basically, a good excuse to nab free bevvies in the local pubs in the name of 'quality control' and tradition. 

Anyhoo... as I was contemplating the quirks and obscurities of life in ancient towns and villages in England, I realised that there's one little thing we used to do back in the day that's absolutely bang up to date when it comes to building online tribes. Here's the scoop...

The 10s and the 100s

Back in the day, we had a little system of order based around a model that makes perfect sense in a network marketing or viral marketing context. When young men (obv substitute whatever gender now, but I'm going back to obscurity now, so it was men) left their schooling, such as it was, they were told to get together into a little gang of 10 with their besties. The 10 would then decide which of them was the leader. This person would be their representative when the 10 were represented to others. BUT, it wasn't all glamorous. He also had responsibility for the conduct of the other nine. You see this in 'directorial' or 'ministerial' responsibility. The latter is rare at the mo', but don't get me started on that! Back to the story. If you stepped up to become a leader, you got to feel important but you also needed to be strong enough to represent a united front. It would be your job to set up a culture and standard for The 10 as a whole. It would also be on you if they didn't step up to that. 

The 10s were then part of 100s.

In each group of 100, one was elected 'leader'. That leader became known as the 'Hundredsman'.

The 10s and the 100s were responsible for catching and punishing thieves. It was a community policing system. 

How does this relate to, say, network marketing?

You may not have a team of 100,000. Maybe, it's nearer 10, but you are the leader of that 10. It's your job to instil in those 10 the culture of the team. While you may be the one who speaks to corporate on the team's behalf, or the one who runs the training, it's the responsibility of every person in that 10 to uphold the culture. It's also the responsibility of every team member to duplicate that culture so that when the 10 become 100, and you're a Hundredswoman or man, the culture is infused into that 100 like brandy through a Christmas cake. 

So, who's ready to become a Hundredsperson?