When I make art, I think about its ability to connect with others, to bring them into the process.
After a 10+ day trip from coast to coast, connecting, consulting, and collecting stories and learning so much from so many, I returned to see my plants a little irritated with me. In fact, two of them went on strike to the point that they looked as though they were on the brink of death.
I definitely know why I don't have a pet as much as I travel. . .Back to the plants.
After buying new pots, soil, collecting rain water from friends that had it to spare in addition to the small amount that I collected from my deck while away, I went about re-connecting with my plants. Now, they were not altogether neglected while I was away, but they did not (and I could see it) feel connected to or any other human because there was no human presence. As a result, they slowly moved towards a state of being less than they are capable of being.
Traveling is not new for me and my plants are not without their alone time. The difference this time was that I did not leave a key for my neighbor to come buy and spend time with them. I asked a friend who is very good with plants to water them, but he does not have the time to spend with them like my next door neighbor takes the time to do. The difference: watered plants vs. plants that were given the opportunity to interact with an oxygen breathing organism--to connect.
My plants have historically been very healthy and have grown a great deal. Until my previous trip while in Washington, DC for about 9 days in January, they were flourishing. However, the less interaction they have had the less healthy they have been and because I have been gone back to back, I was not able to repair the small issues I noticed they were experiencing. In fact, I said to myself, "they will be okay until I get back."
This was not the best decision. In fact, when I saw the slight wilting and leaves dropping off, I would have served us both better by taking the time to connect, if only for a little while. Assuring them that upon my return, we would spend an extended period of time together renewing our greenness! But I didn't.
Connecting is the new career economy. When I say, "new" I am not implying that we haven't connected in the past and that it hasn't been vital to our careers, recruiting, retention, advancement, etc. What I am saying is that the nature of our connections is now beyond necessity and what is ironic is that the necessity of consciously creating connections evolved to the next level from what some recruiters, candidates, etc. considered as a disconnector--the Internet!
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and niches like Medical Mingle, and soon Diversity HealthWorks as well as many others are principally focused on connecting people and hearing what they have to say and are up to. People want to connect, these sites allow it to happen.
While traveling, I connected with my best friend from high school, John Dean (our picture is above). John lives just outside of Los Angeles. He doesn't work in healthcare, but he works in social services and there is a definitely connection to some of the things that I am committed to: children, health, diversity, transformation. Possibility lies in the conversation and I know I am better because of it regardless of the future outcomes.
I re-connected with John through Facebook after 15 years. While this example is not one that is directly job-oriented or career building, the connection is about possibilities. The new job economy is about connecting to create possibility. Where in the past, we connect with a particular rationale, now we connect just to connect and out of not knowing what a connection, or a follow, or a poke, or a tweet, or an inMail, or a response to a blog post might create we connect for its sake and then see what happens.
In the James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds:
He postulates the following about wise crowds and their superior collective wisdom (from Wikipedia):
Likewise, not everyone in our purview desires to connect like we do. Find ways to connect with your colleagues, your friends, family members, employees, etc. in ways that work for them. It will without a doubt be the critical component of success in all relationships business, small to global, and personal from this point on. It always has been and it always will, now lets take it seriously and consciously connect like we never have before!
Make it a great day!
This was not the best decision. In fact, when I saw the slight wilting and leaves dropping off, I would have served us both better by taking the time to connect, if only for a little while. Assuring them that upon my return, we would spend an extended period of time together renewing our greenness! But I didn't.
Connecting is the new career economy. When I say, "new" I am not implying that we haven't connected in the past and that it hasn't been vital to our careers, recruiting, retention, advancement, etc. What I am saying is that the nature of our connections is now beyond necessity and what is ironic is that the necessity of consciously creating connections evolved to the next level from what some recruiters, candidates, etc. considered as a disconnector--the Internet!
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and niches like Medical Mingle, and soon Diversity HealthWorks as well as many others are principally focused on connecting people and hearing what they have to say and are up to. People want to connect, these sites allow it to happen.
While traveling, I connected with my best friend from high school, John Dean (our picture is above). John lives just outside of Los Angeles. He doesn't work in healthcare, but he works in social services and there is a definitely connection to some of the things that I am committed to: children, health, diversity, transformation. Possibility lies in the conversation and I know I am better because of it regardless of the future outcomes.
I re-connected with John through Facebook after 15 years. While this example is not one that is directly job-oriented or career building, the connection is about possibilities. The new job economy is about connecting to create possibility. Where in the past, we connect with a particular rationale, now we connect just to connect and out of not knowing what a connection, or a follow, or a poke, or a tweet, or an inMail, or a response to a blog post might create we connect for its sake and then see what happens.
In the James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds:
He postulates the following about wise crowds and their superior collective wisdom (from Wikipedia):
- Diversity of opinion
- Each person should have private information even if it's just an eccentric interpretation of the known facts.
- Independence
- People's opinions aren't determined by the opinions of those around them.
- Decentralization
- People are able to specialize and draw on local knowledge.
- Aggregation
- Some mechanism exists for turning private judgments into a collective decision.
Likewise, not everyone in our purview desires to connect like we do. Find ways to connect with your colleagues, your friends, family members, employees, etc. in ways that work for them. It will without a doubt be the critical component of success in all relationships business, small to global, and personal from this point on. It always has been and it always will, now lets take it seriously and consciously connect like we never have before!
Make it a great day!
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