If only managing our own lives was as visually appealing!

I have a good friend who shares a lot of my ideas about things, but has a fundamentally different approach that I initially struggled to understand. I asked him my usual questions- what do you hope to create or achieve, what is your vision? At first I was frustrated- it seemed to me like he hadn’t thought it through, and was somehow shortchanging himself. I refused to write him off, though- I had faith in the quality of our conversations, and that there must have been more to him. I must have been overlooking something. And as I listened, slowly, an elegant truth began to emerge.

Using the analogies and common language that’s somewhat exclusive to us, he described himself as “unworthy for the throne.” My impulse was to scold him for thinking small, for limiting himself. But that in itself is a limited idea, and I realized it as an unintended consequence of the analogy he had used. Because the man on the throne isn’t necessarily the most powerful, influential, effective or fulfilled individual. In a world of anxious, egoistic men lusting after thrones, my friend humbly saw himself as a steward, jester and adviser. And it occurred to me that there’s a certain wisdom in that that I hadn’t considered earlier.

I’m reminded of an entrepreneurship game described by Tina Sellig, where groups are supposed to build jigsaw puzzles. But there are all sorts of interesting limitations- no group can complete it’s picture on its own, because no group has all the pieces it needs. Successful situations emerge when the groups learn to work together, and sometimes that meant some groups aiming to serve others rather than to compete with them directly, acting as brokers of sorts. There’s an economic wisdom to it. Think Different.

By choosing a unique, specialized role, I believe that my friend has chosen a wiser path than he may have realized, both for himself and the marketplace at large.

Which makes me wonder, what is my unique, specialized role? Obviously every individual is different, sometimes slightly, sometimes spectacularly- everyone has a different mix, a different collection of tones and colours. That’s why it’s always fun to meet new people, because no two people have the exact same perspective or worldview.

I do not realistically expect to create anything new, to do anything that’s never been done before. Doing that requires a specific skill set and very specific conditions- you need to be working at the edge of chaos, at the limits of human knowledge, venturing into the unexplored. I know a few people who’re working towards doing this, and I deeply respect and admire them. More importantly, I will readily acknowledge that I’m not cut out to be one of them. I can’t compete. I’m particularly interested in and supportive of people working in medicine, solar energy, neurology, bio-mimicry. I think these are the fields that we really need to invest more in.

My role instead, as I imagine, would be that of a connector, a popularizer. I believe that I have the ability to draw parallels between disciplines, to help people see things that they might not have seen before, to help people realize that we have far more in common than we think. I want to seek out the wise and talented from different fields and bring them together, to help create conditions that allow synthesis and symbiosis.

What is your role?