Beyond Size

They say a river is honored for its fish and not its size. And yet, in our world there is so much focus on size, reach and transactions. Our opportunity is to honor impact and creation, not size.

An organization may have a ‘customer service’ department or an ‘internal communication’ department and yet, there is very limited service or open communication practiced. There may be 700 people in your Group or Community but less than one percent actively participate. And we haven’t even discussed what participation and engagement looks like when it comes to impact and ripples.

Research finds that the more we need to accomplish, the less we accomplish. And the bigger the size our network, the less likely we are to build lasting relationships.

Relationships take a great deal of investment and it’s not about the numbers but the level of trust we create with another. 

Last week, I had a random call with someone building a network for the future. He hired a VA in Africa to find people on LinkedIn and set up 20-minute calls with. He arrived late on the call and his question was since he had a million people in his network, can we join forces? And by the way, he also wanted to know how large was my network is?

And he informed me that he already had 30,000 LinkedIn contacts, he was not allowed to make new connections. To be honest, I can’t even remember his name. 

What If It is the Size of the Ripples We Make?

What is increasingly important is not how big our network is but how deep our connections are. There are three key elements to consider:

• Connecting based on what’s important and creating shared meaning
• Being conscious about the people we bring into our lives and becoming aware whether they deplete or energize
• Understanding the concept of ripples and that when we connect heart-to-heart we open ourselves to people we would not normally meet.

It’s up to us to connect with people who help us expand and grow. And maybe, the biggest shift is not measuring the size of the network but the depth of dialogue, expansion and co-creation.

When we open dialogue channels, we create experiences and who knows what is possible?

When we move out of a world of transactions, what do we commit to? How do we connect? 

Imagine working on a team with deep relationships. There is agreement to trek into the unknown together, which means making course corrections as needed. When we have trusted relationships, we are aware of what we are working towards and working on. Everyone can speak openly and confidently focus on the creations. But this is not a simple task as we need to suck less at true collaboration.

Mycologist Paul Stamets helps us see what’s possible for humanity, “I believe that the mycelium operates at a level of complexity that exceeds the computational powers of our most advanced supercomputers. I see the mycelium as the Earth’s natural Internet, a consciousness with which we might be able to communicate.

Through cross-species interfacing, we may one day exchange information with these sentient cellular networks. Because these externalized neurological nets sense any impression upon them, from footsteps to falling tree branches, they could relay enormous amounts of data regarding the movements of all organisms through the landscape …

What a beautiful inspirational model for how human beings might live: In a shared economy based not on greed but on nurturing relationships and mutual cooperation.”

Maybe the question is how much are we able to love?