Beyond Nails

Every business does the same thing. All businesses solve problems. Money is exchanged because someone gets something they didn't have, or gets rid of something they didn't want. 

Effective teams are those that build trust. They let other people solve parts of the problems. Normally a problem has multiple solutions. If you decide 'you' are the important bit, rather than a solution being the important bit - then 'you' need to be the one who solves the problem.

We grow up with questions like 'what do *you* want to be when you grow up?'. Our identity then gets wrapped up in the particular kind of problem we solve. That is a terrible idea. It turns people into productive assets. It turns people into hammers constantly searching for nails. We specialise so much that we stop trusting people who don't see the world in the same way we do. We stop trusting people who don't ask the same type of questions we do.

Beyond a world where everything is a nail

Ideally, you can snap the connection. This may take time. It may take generations. It may take you snapping the connection for your grandchildren, and the community of which they are a part.

The first step is to build a Buffer. Stop living hand-to-mouth. Have a little bit of a gap between your hand and your mouth. Then stop connecting your identity with your hand. Gradually the Buffer can be put to work. The Buffer can grow into an Engine. An Engine is something that earns more than you spend.

Then the magic starts. If your Engine can build a Buffer between what you spend and what it gives you, it can slowly start to multiply. The Engine can then start to support others you care about. Engines could grow into Community Wealth Funds. A Community Engine can solve multiple problems without being defined by any of those problems.

Not everything is a problem. Not everything can be clearly articulated as an ask (buy) or an offer (sell). Some things are much more fuzzy and much better when they are allowed to be fuzzy. When they are relational, rather than transactional.

I don't think we can answer the question, 'who are you?' until our hands and mouths are free. Until the hands and mouths of our communities are free. Until we can stop trying to solve problems. Which forces us to see everything as a problem.