Could Martin Luther King, Jr. have achieved the goals of the civil rights movement all by himself? Could Walt Disney have created the Disney empire without anyone else's help? Heck, even Lance Armstrong has a road crew. Take a wider view, and it's worth remembering that none of us could survive in the modern world without a heck of a lot of help. Our entire way of life is a system of profoundly interdependent specialization.
I did not plant or grow or harvest one thing that I ate yesterday. I did not mine or farm or otherwise produce any of the raw materials that make up every tangible thing I own. I did not invent or develop or fabricate even one component part of my computer, my television, my refrigerator, my car, or my central heating and air conditioning system. I did not design or craft or finish even one stick of my furniture. I did not build my home with my own hands.
From this perspective, what has any of us ever accomplished alone? Where would we be without the talents of several billion strangers?
A critical key in manifesting our dreams lies in forming the relationships that will support and develop those dreams into reality. Some of those relationships can be formed through financial exchange, but what if you don’t have a lot of money to throw at the problem? That’s where win-win relationships come in.
I need to digress for a moment here and introduce some terminology. When I use the term “win-win,” I’m really talking about systems of mutualistic symbiosis. That’s a phrase from biology, indicating a symbiotic partnership in which each species gains from the relationship. For example, the bacteria that naturally occur within the human digestive tract and aid in our digestion exist in a relationship of mutualistic symbiosis with humanity. We supply the bacteria with a friendly environment, and the bacteria supply us with digestive services. Both species profit from the relationship. (Fortunately bacteria are not considered “players” in our system of global economics, so this kind of “profit” remains tax free…)
So how do you find and develop relationships of mutualistic symbiosis to help you manifest your dreams? Well, that depends on the dream, of course, but the basic approach is to think as creatively as possible about who might benefit from seeing your dream become a reality. Remember that interdependence I was talking about? The beneficiaries of your dream may extend well beyond the immediately obvious.
For example, let’s say you have an idea for restructuring retirement communities in a way that will make life more fulfilling for the residents. A retirement community is an obvious beneficiary in that it stands to do more business or make more of a profit if it can provide a better service for its customers. But you could also look for ways to create relationships with the residents themselves, who may have added input for your vision and who will have a clear “investment” in its success. You could also reach out to the children of those residents, who have an emotional “investment” in seeing their parents happy and thriving.
Extending your interdependent web a bit farther, you could consider all of the businesses that provide services to the retirement community, especially those services which are discretionary. Who does the retirement community hire to teach classes or lead exercise groups? Are there independent contractors who provide therapeutic services? Does the community hire certain transportation companies for bus services or tour groups?
Then extend the web in the other direction. Who besides families would benefit from more fulfilled residents? Are there local after school programs that would love to have volunteers or even paid part-time help from the retirement community? Could you form a consortium of local businesses that would like to hire part-time help from that community? Are there restaurants or hair salons or book stores that would benefit from increased business within the community? What about doctors or accountants or estate planners?
When seeking out relationships to support your dreams, remember that we are all interconnected, and that these connections extend far beyond those that we tend to think about on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, new connections are just waiting to be formed. Don’t just think about the beneficiaries of your dreams. Think also about the beneficiaries of your beneficiaries. Then think about the people who might become beneficiaries of your beneficiaries. Your dreams connect you in a relationship of mutualistic symbiosis with every other human being who stands to benefit from those dreams. Together, you can make those dreams come true.
