If we say, “Craigslist,” what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Finding a deal on a used guitar? Selling your kids’ old bikes? Finding a roommate?
For Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, it is about connecting. In his words, it is about the assumption that people will work together and “give each other a break.”
If philanthropy is to truly represent the Love of Humanity that is its namesake, Craig’s wisdom must be at the heart of that work. And that doesn’t mean “connecting with people with money,” which is what philanthropy seems mostly to be about these days.
Even further, though, if social enterprises and socially-minded businesses are to achieve their own potential to create a better world, that success will also require a rethinking, specifically the rethinking of so many of our collective assumptions about competition vs. cooperation.
Ultimate success in both the traditional change arena and the up-and-coming business side of the change arena will mean connecting where it counts. Setting the expectation that groups will work together – that they will, in Craig’s words, give each other a break. It means experiencing what naturally occurs when people let down their guard and connect from the heart.
- If you were to see every encounter and every task through the lens of CONNECTING, what would that make possible for your work? And what would it make possible for your community?
- What might change in the way you work with other organizations and other businesses – and in the way you work with community members – if you trusted that people would connect? If you assumed that given the opportunity, people would give each other a break? What would it make possible if THAT was your expectation?
We know you will enjoy this interview from early last year (February 2012) with the quietly wise and generous spirit that is Craig Newmark.
Listen to the Audio Here:
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