For
some time I've been thinking about ways we could more effectively find
'like minds' to make a living with or even just to work on projects we
have a shared passion for. Too many of us are working alone, and if
we're going to make a real difference, and experience the full joy of
Natural Enterprise and Intentional Community, we need to start working
with others whose talents complement our own, and who we can come
easily to love.
This search for partners need not (indeed it must not) involve compromising what we want to do, or our values. It should enable us to do what we do best, connecting and
collaborating with others, on our own terms, in our own context,
developing our own plan of action, doing our
own thing in sync, in community with others. Though it does require knowing yourself: What your personal Gift, Passion and Purpose are!
I
concluded quickly that the mechanism for finding others won't be a
website, database or other online technology: It needs to draw on a
broader pool of talent and passion, including those on the other side
of the digital divide.
Likewise, the mechanism for finding
others cannot be one of agency, because person-to-person connection
agencies are fatally flawed by their intrinsic conflict of interest. As
James Surowiecki has explained,
the agent gets rewarded for making connections, and for that reason
s/he will always be tempted to exaggerate the potential of every
relationship, and to accept bribes to favour some parties over others.
So what we need is a low-tech, peer-to-peer
mechanism. That had me stumped for a while, but now I think I have a
first iteration (illustrated above) of a method that might work. Here's
a walk-through; tell me what you think:
- Articulate Unmet Needs (That You Care About): Regular readers will not be surprised that the mechanism starts not with solutions, but with deep, unmet human problems and needs. This is the exact opposite of the usual approach, which starts with ideas, solutions, proposals or manifestos.
The idea is to approach a problem with an open mind and as much data as
possible, and engage others to help solve it. The need needs to be
probed, substantiated with evidence (especially stories), and discussed
extensively. Students of complex systems know that an understanding of
the problem co-evolves with the emergence of possible solutions, so
what is important is to articulate the problem or need, and not rush to
solutions. Who needs your gift now?
- Appeal to People's Sense of Purpose: Your purpose
is what you were always meant to do, why you're here. It's personal,
and the articulation and discussion of needs will draw in people whose
purpose is aligned with solving that problem or filling that need. This
is not a persuasive process
-- you're appealing to the latent interest that people already have in
the subject. Those who respond will bring additional stories and
additional research to improve the articulation and substantiation of
the need.
- Craft the Invitation: You already have part of the solution team by virtue of having appealed to people's sense of purpose. Now the invitation, Open Space style, is crafted to draw in people who have the gift and passion to come up with solutions.
- Complete the Solution Team:
Now you bring together people who share your purpose, and those who
have the genius (the gift and the passion) to help you find approaches
to address the problem or need effectively. When you find people who
have both (the shared purpose and the genius) you've found the partners
you want!
- Brainstorm & Innovate: Using an Open-Space type technique,
now you put it all together, and brainstorm innovative and adaptive
approaches (like biomimicry) collaboratively. You'll end up with the
raw material for a host of experiments. Some of them will work, others
won't. But now you're working with people who share your passion and
purpose, and whose gifts complement your own, you won't stop until
you've found a set of solutions that make a difference. And in the
process, you'll learn more about the needs and problems you're
grappling with, and evolve even better answers.
OK, I know you're asking What's the Business Model?
How can anyone make a living off this? Well, in the first place, this
solution co-development process will give those who want to make a
living a huge amount of research and 'qualification of need' at little
or no cost. And if some of the experiments need some additional
investment of time or money to get from the successful experiment to
the ubiquitous product or service stage, it should be pretty easy to
find partners to provide it, since the risk has been largely
eliminated. The network that has been immersed in qualifying the need
and brainstorming solutions will provide ready-made viral marketing for
commercial solutions. And ultimately this is a reputation system: Your
involvement co-developing both the articulated needs and qualified
approaches and solutions will give you instant credibility to partners
and customers alike. Yeah, it's an open source co-development and the
intelligence is all out there. But you have the inside track because
you've been immersed in the details since day one, so you (and your new
partners) can do what even the richest and cleverest outsider can't:
implement first and best.
No, you won't make a million from this
approach. There is an element of the Gift/Generosity Economy here. But
there is no reason you can't make enough, easily, with minimal risk, to
let you keep doing what you love, what you're uniquely good at doing,
with people you love, and make the world a better place in the process.
That's all I've got so far. Additions welcome. Let's co-develop this thing.
|
10:07:06 PM 
|
|
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
