Social hubs tend to become power brokers.
Connections are a very powerful and desirable currency. Connections open doors that you can’t open with just money or hard work. Having the right connections can speed up projects, provide solutions for nearly impossible problems. Connections are one of the most elusive and volatile of all things to keep, but also one of the most valuable, if you have the right ones.
We all start from nothing. We arrive to this world naked, helpless and ignorant.
You accumulate certain resources throughout life, or maybe you have not accumulated any, usually measured by money. This vision is limited because it excludes many other resources you have:
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Creativity |
Imagination |
Vision |
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Generosity |
Courage |
Persistence |
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Integrity |
Connections |
Experience |
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Elegance |
Beauty |
Credibility |
Wealth is not made of money. Money is only one manifestation of wealth. It is a form, but not a substance. Prosperity is a mentality, not things. You can be prosperous without having much money. You can be rich and not be prosperous.
I am troubled by how much people measure success by money, while one thing has very little to do with the other. Do you think Gandhi was not a successful figure because his portfolio was not impressive? Would you classify Mother Theresa as a failure because she was never a rich woman? Most of our founding fathers end up their lives badly in debt. Jesus was broke!
At the same time we all know many people that have a lot of money and we wouldn’t trade places with them, we wouldn’t want their broken lives, and we would not want to be as unhappy, as frustrated, or as stupid as them.
Money does not measure how proud we are of our kids, or how loving we are to our spouses. Money does not reveal how much we care for the others and how loving we are to the ones who need our help. When you say something good to someone on the street that doesn’t add a dollar to your bank account, but it adds value to your life. Making money is important and we know many reasons to make lots of it, but never fall into the trap of measuring the value of people by how much they have.