Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Jedi Power #1 = Alliance


How can you do more?

You can do more by creating alliances with people who want the same things as you.  They are pursing the same long term goals, with the same life/work style & the same short term goals.

As humans we’re limited.  Sadly, there are only so many hours in a day and only so much we can do in an hour.  So, how can we do more?

After experimenting for a few years, the best answer we’ve come up with is, Alliance,  a relationship based on appreciating another parties interests.

Why should you appreciate someone else’s interests?  Why should they appreciate yours? The simple answer [all morals & norms aside], you’ll only appreciate each other’s interests if they are aligned, if you both want the same thing.

It follows, the best way to do more, is to create alliances with people who want the same thing as you.

Thus, the most powerful fundamental tool in forming alliances is aligning interests. The key to aligning interests is understanding what people fundamentally want.  

When we talk with someone as a potential collaborator for any project, we ask “what do you want out of life?” People are often caught off guard but it quickly puts them in an honest place. If the response is boiled down to money, we dig deeper. What would they do with the money? Travel? Buy a house or a fancy car?

We encourage people to think about what they actually want. So often the aspirations given at the drop of a hat are reflections of those ingrained by others or the ideals of our society. When given a moment to think, or questioned further, individuals can produce a more complete picture of their ideals. This helps me to understand their goals in life and if aligning interests would be mutually beneficial. Understanding these ideals and passions is an essential part of our working philosophy.

Having this conversation, with a few appropriately probing questions, can save you a HEAP o’ time when looking for people that would work well within your group. Creating alliances through aligned interests is a powerful way to get more done.

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