The business community, the industry community, the community leaders these terms all sound very familiar. Do you feel that you are a part of any of these communities? Intellectually we know that we are a part of at least a couple of them, but do you really feel like you are a part. Does the community come to help you when you need it? Does anyone from the community ask you how things are going and honestly sit and listen when you are having problems? Does the community work together for the overall good of its members? Are these real communities?
I grew up in a very small Midwestern town (350 people) and when something happened in this town everyone knew it. Some would say that is because everyone knew everyone else’s business. Well, I guess this was true. When there was a family that was struggling without a job, the community came together and gave this family food. When someone lost their father to illness, the close friends went and visited. Others gave their condolences, in passing, on the street. This was a community.
In our personal lives today we have our family and friends, but we may or may not even know our neighbors in our housing development. And then when it comes to business, it seems to be every man/woman for themselves.
In today’s society there are those that would say, “This is capitalism. This is Adam Smith at his finest”. I don’t believe this sarcasm to have merit. Adam Smith was brilliant in his understanding of human nature and societal needs. He understood how focusing a people on capitalism would meet their inherent human needs while giving society a structure and mechanism by which it could grow and develop. His system of “capitalism” even has it’s mechanisms to self-regulate and manage itself to the betterment of the society.
But what Adam Smith did not speak about in his writings was the importance of community. It was not until the 1950’s that a man, John Nash, formulated a concept that cooperation among competitors might be good for both sides.
John Nash is known as the Father of Game Theory. Game Theory is the study of the psychology of game participants. It is the calculation of all choices a participant has and the evaluation of the ramifications of these choices. This is a long way around the fact that he has proven that in some situations cooperating with your competitors can be beneficial to both you and them.
Oh, the Chamber and industry associations may represent their constituents when lobbying the government. And the government produces thousands of pages of pamphlets to tell you how you should run your business.
But do you have a community of peers with whom you can interact? Someone that you can trust to bounce ideas back and forth? Someone to get new ideas from and share what works for you? Stay with us. It is our intention to develop this community for small businesses – restaurants, retail, offices and others. We would like to invite established as well as young businesses to join us.
If you have ideas as to what this should look like, please leave comments or contact us directly with your suggestions.
photo by Bindaas Madhavi
