Social media has helped created a culture of more. As people navigate what it means to have social influence, it’s easy to get stuck in the idea of:
more traffic
more readers
more followers
more impact
The desire to be seen as important is nothing new, but the tools are. And in some ways, it’s impacting our relationships.
Recently, Jenny challenged me. She said, “You’re good at forming strategic relationships, but that’s not the same thing as a real relationship.” Ugh, she’s right. When you only form relationships with people who can help you, that’s not friendship, that’s strategy.
And I’m not criticizing strategy. I love working on great partnerships with talented folks who can create fun adventures with me. But, at the same time, I can’t confuse friendship with strategy. If you do that too long, one day you look up and you’ve got a 100 strategic partners and no one who really knows your heart.
Put a priority on your relationships. All of them. The ones that help you make a better project and more importantly the ones that help make you a better person.