Page 135 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

competition, and a talented carpenter who couldn’t get
enough work after the housing market crashed. Jeff invited
each person to share his or her situation and needs in just
a couple of minutes and then invited brainstorming from
the group for 10 to 15 minutes per person. By the end of
two hours each of the six people who had come with a chal-
lenge had at least two or more solid ideas for new contacts,
offers to help with a specific problem, or new directions to
consider. A couple of people connected around an idea for a
new business venture. Customers of the retail store gave its
owner specific suggestions for improvement. The carpenter
knew someone who was a great contact for the colonel, and
the realtor gave the carpenter ideas for getting in on the
foreclosure market. A random group of people with no obvi-
ous similarities in job interests were able to help everyone
in the group in some way, and everyone came out grinning
and energized.
This simple experiment reminds us of the value of
investing in both close friends and broad social networks.
Cross-functional teams, neighborhood groups, or random
collections of those taking severance packages could well
have answers for one another’s problems that their closest
friends and colleagues do not. As a psychologist Wendy has
learned that she gets better ideas by attending conferences
on the periphery of her interests than those she thinks will
be most central to her work. She knows a lot about things
she’s really interested in, so it is harder to learn something
new, whereas she gets tons of new ideas that she can apply
in creative ways when she gets training from people who
approach the world very differently.
Connecting us with others is one of the roles of “vital
friends” at work, according to research by the Gallup Organ-

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