Why Business can be Like a Wheelbarrow Race
- You can do it alone (you powered)
- You can get advisors (more brainpower)
- You can get helpers (more horsepower)
- You can get more fans (more community)
The bigger your team the easier your challenge becomes.
I’ve been seeking a a way to tell my recent #sobcon experience. Today, I awoke with a visceral memory of story from my school teacher, Mr Mowat. I was probably 8 or 9 at the time, but I remember it like I was watching a movie.
He shared a tale that’s stuck with me for 40 years. I share it when I need to let somone know that connections in their life aren’t being generous. Or perhaps when they themselves aren’t being generous to me.. It’s had awesome results. Pay it forward!
There was a small boy with a wheelbarrow full of sand. It was really too big for the boy. He was in a park and trying to push the he barrow uphill.
There was an old man sitting on a bench watching, smoking his pipe. He was watching the boy struggle to push the barrow uphill. The tiny boy was really making no progress, so the old man signals over the boy.
“Listen son”, he says, “That hill’s steep. Why not you try zigging and zagging your way up the hill. That way it won’t be so hard or so steep!”
As quick as a flash the boy replied. “Know what, Grandad, you could just help!”
Some go it alone. Some give advice. Others engage and become part of the solution. #sobcon was a reminder of this. It was like the opposite of the man in the park. I experienced pure #sobconsciousness on my second day. I’m sitting at a table with Barry Moltz, Connie Diekin, MJ Carter and Lisa Jenkins I asked for help on Listly.
I was bombarded not with advice, but with offers of help and introductions. One minutes later Barry brought over Rebecca Saltman from DexOne with yet more offers of help and connections. These offers would help everyone at the table to appreciate my challenge and to then be able to offer smarter advice. I was gorging on a fire hydrant. That was my defining #sobcon moment. That was the myth I’d been told. It was true. Every bit of it.
That’s the power of a generous mindset. Don’t give answers. Be the answer.
Nick is co-founder the social curation platform Listly, that combines crowdsourcing, content curation and embedable lists to drive high-level community engagement, live inside your blog posts. Connect with Nick on Twitter · Linkedin, Facebook and G+ and follow his writing via his other guest posts and on his blogs at NickKellet.com and blog.list.ly
