"No one person—repeat, no one, no matter how smart or how many degrees follow his name—could create from scratch a small, everyday pencil, let alone a car or an airplane. This is a message that humbles the high and mighty."
- I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read - Foundation for Economic Education https://fee.org/resources/i-pencil/
Introduction:
Humanity is a gigantic organism, like an ant colony or beehive. No single ant or bee can do much (or even survive for long) alone. The same is true of us. We need others to survive. We simply can’t thrive without them.
When we cooperate effectively, we can deliver miracles. I’ll argue here that the most efficient (Best methods), and effective (Right things - best results) ways to improve our lives and those of our children are to find and use evidence-backed methods to improve the operations of groups.
Problem Statement:
Everyone’s effectiveness is limited because we’re individual human beings. No matter how much I know, how much wisdom I have, or what expertise I develop, I must work through groups of every kind to have any real or lasting impact. Although individual contributions can be very positive, groups working toward a common purpose accomplish much more than the sum of individual contributions.
Guiding Philosophy:
The overall goal is to help peoplesurvive and thrive.
Worthwhile early objectives:
Finding ways to minimize the use of my time and efforts to produce maximum results. My purpose in life is to change the world and have a positive impact. I have a limited lifespan and limited energy to do my bit to change the world for the better. Ideally, I want to leverage my efforts to improve lives the most.
Determine what initial objectives to pursue. For example, improving education to deliver an excellent free education to any student, anywhere in the world (Sal Khan of Khan Academy’s) objective and it’s already boosting the compounding effects of education for students, including me, who take advantage of the courses. By contrast, getting excellent hospice care to everyone is certainly worthwhile, but it doesn’t produce the same kind or scale of lasting results.
Find (or build) a group (or groups) of people already working toward the general objective(s). Some ways I might help: Act as a catalyst, connector, facilitator, and change agent to help them progress. Donate, volunteer time and expertise, and make introductions and connections between groups.
Define a common purpose or find like-minded people already working toward the same goals.
Solution: I don’t have specific targets in mind, but I know some general directions to consider. To be most effective and have an impact that spreads beyond my immediate circle, the things I devote my resources to must be:
Adaptive
Evidence-based
Pro-social
Help individuals AND groups to thrive.
Have a long-term focus.
Reduce friction within and between groups.
Enable clear communication.
That’s food for thought in this week’s post. I would love to hear from you and get your ideas. Maybe together we can do some good.
