We talk a lot about community.
What it’s good for.
Where it’s missing.
Why we need it.
Ultimately a lot of the things that we say are just platitudes.
We say them because they’re the buzzword or we say them because we think it’s what we’re supposed to say
But in reality, what does community mean and what purpose does it actually serve?
I think community is just as integral as we talk about it being. And if we were to slow down just a bit and think a little more critically, it would be easy to recognize its purpose and where it’s missing.
Community is in the stories we tell.
The lessons we pass down.
The way that we look after one another and help bridge the gap in our perceptions and experiences in life.
I was fortunate enough to spend three days backpacking through the Shenandoah with my 10 year old, two of his friends and their fathers.
The lessons and experiences that we shared in our time together were profound not just for me, but for everyone involved.
To watch other fathers take time to explain ideas and find common ground with my son and for me to do the same with theirs is exactly what community is about
But the thing is, it’s so much greater than that.
Community is ultimately about sharing ideas so that we can all rise together.
Community is about passing on the building blocks that will help society continue to evolve and be great in the future.
Community is about having a vested interest in the greater good of everyone.
One of the reasons that we see community consistently come up as such a touchstone and conversation is because people in their gut recognize when it’s lacking.
I say all this because I have been involved in dozens of communities, both large and small in my life.
I’ve seen what they’ve done for me.
I’ve seen how they’ve helped me grow.
And I’ve seen how they’ve inspired me and others around me to achieve greater and greater things.
It’s one of the things that has kept me constantly thinking about the type of intentional communities that I want to build in the future.
I think that at the end of the day for a community to really meet its full potential, it needs people that are willing to be the ignition.
In my life I’ve often found that I've needed to be that catalyst for creating community.
That has been organizing musicians, to turn into bands, to turn into squads fans.
Or organizing people to build a business, to find other businesses, to turn into a startup ecosystem.
Ultimately the linchpin that makes all of that possible is someone being the catalyst.
The change agent.
The point of ignition.
I think the reason a lot of people aren’t more apt to take the lead is because they’re worried.
Worried about what others will think.
Worried that they will fail.
Worried that they aren’t the leaders that their heart is telling them they can be.
But the one thing that I have learned, and I feel is mostly definitive, is that people want to believe, and they want to see others succeed.
Somewhere along the way, we got it in our heads that the majority of the humans are at times celebrating our downfall when the reality is exactly the opposite.
We fail to recognize that just because someone isn’t cheering out loud doesn’t mean that they’re not cheering quietly for us inside.
I’ve found that is actually the reality more often than not and when I quiet my mind and my neurosis that pure, unadulterated goodness shines through.
I know this because people tell me, not in the moment when I’m seeking it, but years down the line.
I’ll run into someone who I hardly know or don’t know at all that will recognize me from something that I’ve done.
That benefited from something I helped to organize and they’ll tell me I remember you, and I experienced that, and it had a tremendous impact on me.
That’s the stuff guys.
That’s what community is.
It’s building something you know is benefiting everyone because it’s not centered on benefiting you.
If you pour your energy into something that you know people will benefit from and you aren’t focused on how it immediately benefits you at all times the chances are that you’re doing something that will have a compounding positive impact for years to come.
I’ve written before about my experience building the Startup Soirée community here in Baltimore.
I’ve written about all that it meant to me, and all that it meant to so many others.
In all the years since we curtailed that community, I have thought and schemed about how I could make it more successful.
What elements does it need to succeed and help even more people?
I’m excited to say that I finally come to a place of clarity around what that is; Baltimore Creators.
I’ve been talking a lot about building Baltimore Creators
I can’t wait to pour my heart and soul into it because I have a deep hunch that it’s going to have a positive impact for so many others.
Through this community we’re going to:
- Launch new business
- Help others problem solve their way into their future
- Create opportunities for people who never knew their ideas had value
- Rewrite the narrative around who belongs
- Raise those up that have been here for decades and keeping the flame alive
The world is more in need of big solutions than ever before, but those big solutions aren’t massive pieces of technology or the colonization of a new planet.
Those solutions start right here with you and me.
They start when we recognize that most of what we need is within our reach and all we need to do is offer to help and ask for help when we need it.
Let’s do that.
Until next time.
This is Ground Control
- Patrick
Also, as promised in the Refining the Ground Control Strategy post here are some of my favorite recent LinkedIn posts. I'm pretty active publishing over there so be sure to hit "Follow" to stay up to date.
LinkedIn Posts
