How far do we want to go?
There’s an African proverb that says:
“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
I think it’s one of the greatest truths ever said. Think about it- during the course of our lives, there’s very little that we actually accomplish alone- from learning the most basic things for our survival, to making friends, shaping a personality, making a life decision, learning from a mistake – almost every one of our actions involves at least one other person.
Some of these people were already here when we got here, others we found along the way, and others found us- we are constantly creating these networks that become the ecosystem of our lives. Families, friendships, businesses are built on the relationships we create.
I reflected on this recently because I ended a very important chapter of my professional life and had a hard time coming to terms with it. Upon reflecting why this was so hard I concluded that it was because I was able to do, grow, learn, and experience so much and I simply loved what I did. Which brought me to think about all these things I did which inevitably led to thinking about the people who were with me when I did them. The universe of people I was fortunate enough to meet, work with, talk to, learn from is what made all things possible, what allowed us to get as far as we did.
So now what? Where do you go after you’ve been someplace amazing? You look for the next amazing place and do your best to bring what you’ve learned and share it with the others you meet there.
That led me to BluePoint- to a universe where we want to go very far, and we want to bring as many people with us as we can. At Bluepoint we believe in the power of collective ideas, of co-creation, of inviting smarter people in so we always have someone to learn from. We want to walk with our clients and partners to meet those bold, audacious, impossibly amazing goals and build strong, enduring relationships to take us as far as we can.
My title here is “Director of Strategic Alliances”. I love it. I’m good at getting people in a room, I’m good at making connections, I’ll talk to anybody who will listen- but no matter how good I am at what I do – I need people to come to the room, and engage, and talk, and express what they need, and talk to me to get anywhere- see where I’m going with this?
So in this next chapter, I am proposing we do more of that- finding the tribe, creating the space to talk, learning from others, and making plans to go together; to create enduring, fulfilling, win-win alliances every chance we get- where we are willing to bring our skills, knowledge, energy and commitment at the same level that we’re willing to receive what others are bringing.
In that spirit, let me share with you one of my favorite things: a poem I first read in 1991 when I started my very first job, also in an amazing place, teaching amazing little people who still invite me to their Christmas party every year (when you read this I hope you recognize who you are).
All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten
“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
WHEN YOU GO OUT INTO THE WORLD, WATCH OUT FOR TRAFFIC, HOLD HANDS, AND STICK TOGETHER.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first worked you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.”
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all – the whole world – had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are – when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”
– Robert Fulghum, 1986
Tere Ligorría Goicolea
Director of Strategic Alliances