Here’s a link to a short post worth a quick read on the SiriusDecisions blog. Maybe the writing is not the most conversational, but the important point is to go into partnerships, relationships, and co-workeredness with the attitude of “What can I share and give in this gig?” Here’s the post —>
We’ve all been there. We enter a relationship whether it be for business or personal reasons, and we end up giving a ton more than we get back. So for the next one, we protect yourself and hold back. After several rounds of this, we end up going into a relationship with a protective attitude. “I’m not going to give anything unless I am guaranteed to get something back equal or better.” It’s logical and completely understandable, but it eats our hearts out.
This is just a suggestion, so think about it. Go into relationships and partnerships ready to give. Be a source of thought, energy, and discussion. Sure, you may look stupid sometimes. You get used to that, and it lets you know how many things you really don’t know in the world (I am King of the Stupids). Go into a room ready to offer helpful perspectives to anyone who is interested. Make it a habit, and it will never dry up. You have thousands of great ideas a day. Let them free and they will return like spawning salmon until you ooze idea roe from your head. This is the feeling I got at the few Boulder.me events I have been to lately and it has been great. People willing to talk and share and generate real discussion. Not polite conversation to feign interest, but people really talking and listening. Offering perspectives, thoughts, arguments, criticism, and guidance to anyone willing to hear it. This kind of community is something special. Take advantage of it. Hope to see you there. (IgniteBoulder and IgniteDenver are coming soon.)