Category: the Thread

Thought of the Week 9-12-2008

People who optimize their personal capital can change their world. People who optimize their social capital can change the world.

– Mike Cope

Fact of the Day:
“The one thing I’ve consistently seen entrepreneurs do that has significant measurable impact on everything they do — more than any other factor — is manage their relationships and manage their social capital. Folks that do that really well are bound to find some measure of success in some area of their life. It may not be the course they set initially, but there’s invariably some positive that comes from it. So I’ve made it point throughout my own endeavors to continue to find ways to improve my own ability to manage and maintain relationships and to learn from others.” This Fast Company interview shares more insights on social capital from tech observer and prominent entrepreneur, Eric Litman. [ more ]

Be The Change:
This site offers a list of 100 things you can do to build social capital. [ more ]

Dustin’s Thoughts:

I really like this idea. I found it in one of my emails from Charity Focus online. I like taking time to take stock of people. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but our world has become VERY detached and unconnected. I just read an article that my wife has written on the way our world has become almost anti-social in the way we are able to disconnect from the people that are right beside us at a table, a red-light or even right next door in our neighborhood. And although I like this concept, I want to take one moment to caution us not to simply see people as Capital that can be sold, traded or invested. People are worth MUCH MORE THAN GOLD! And that’s saying a lot in our present market.

I challenge us to learn to communicate well, learn to listen well and learn to be open, transparent and relevant. I believe we can never underestimate just how much wholesome interaction and communication is worth in an organization, organism and/or team. It was Hemingway who said, “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”

It’s time to listen. It’s time to hear. It’s time to make sure that we are connecting with every person around us and if we approach this whole activity with the other’s best interests in mind, then, yes, let’s keep tally of social capital.

There’s one last point I would like to make on this topic. And that is this:

“The more elaborate our means of
communication, the less we communicate.”

— Joseph Priestley: was an 18th-century British theologian, natural philosopher, and political theorist

The more elaborate our communication, the less likely we will have actual relevant communication. Email, cell phones and Facebook are GREAT means to communicate, but for all of their ability to enhance our conversations, they can be just as much the culprits of divisiveness as gossip, slander or back-biting. It seems I am always the victim of the email system that crashes, the voicemail that is lost and the Facebook entries that mis-posted due to an upgrade in the system. Often-times people think that my not responding to their communication is due to my lack of interest or is a commentary on our friendship; however, the truth is that it is ONLY the result of technology gone wrong! We cannot trust these means of communication altogether to replace meaningful contact and face to face interaction. Seriously, I have said it before and I will say it again. Computers don’t hug after everything is said and done…

Sometimes the best ways to communicate are those face to face, simple, and authentic on purpose conversations you can only have when you take the time to do have them. (I actually spell CARE = “T.I.M.E.”). It’s time that shows me that a person really cares. TIME is the only truly limited human commodity in our world.

And don’t forget, when we converse, what we don’t say sometimes speaks louder than what we DO say. So, let’s be careful to listen, put ourselves in another’s shoes, be a friend, be a cohort, experience other’s lives with them, be open and allow others to explore our own lives, not hiding behind masks of pretense and fake courage.

If you do this, I promise that this is only the beginning of an amazing journey I call community!

I believe right now, there are more people in America than there has ever been that need friends. And inside of this idea of friendships, relationships, community, networking, communication and care is where we find TRUE social capital!

Well, it’s just a thought…

Have a great week!

dh

Dustin Hedrick

www.renaissanceofasoul.com