Close your eyes. Yes, do it. OK, first read this passage and then close your eyes.
Think of a wheel, specifically a bike wheel. It spins graciously when it is built correctly, maintained over time with good, kind attention, regular pressure checks and the occasional pump of air. Maybe this wheel is even a flywheel that needs the momentum of its surroundings to gain great speed. Close your eyes and just see this with me for a minute.
Now open them.
The Flywheel Is Flying
This wheel of fortune we are collectively visualizing is flying. And it is gaining momentum by building concentric circles with women in business in a global way, using a marketplace built by women for women as its expressway to cruise at optimal speed.
How this wheel is built is particularly important because it relies on the internal spokes of the wheel to be strong and supported, tended to and caressed, massaged with extra care, the kind you give your most cherished relationships. And collaboration is just that: deeply tended to relationships that have the same goal in mind. As I like to call it: same mission, different copy.
The Spokes Need Each Other
A note on those parts of the circle that are called to be strong and supported arms to keep the mission rolling: they are also relying on other spokes to hold the weight of the wheel's inertia, together, so each spoke has a moment of reprieve from carrying the full weight of the wheel. The spokes, as you can guess, are the people who make the mission come alive and keep us collectively moving forward.
The women we feature on Business 4 Good are the integral part of collaboration held together by the hub. Currently, I am the hub and there is absolutely no way on earth I could keep the wheel spinning without all the strong spokes, the women in business in our community and on our crew.
It is my personal goal to collaborate from a place of integrity and kindness as I lead our internal crew and as we share externally with our network.
The wheel itself has to have these various components to allow for the circle to really spin in a balanced, fluid way and so does a circular model of business leadership through collaboration.
Community Is the Wheel
Community is the wheel and each of our individual roles are the spokes that keep the collab flywheel spinning. This visual is what inspires me to build, grow and lead our community to be truly collaborative. Knowledge I gained from personal experience of opening and running a community bike program during my undergraduate studies taught me that each of the spokes need to be tended to regularly to ensure the wheel, the community's overall health and growth. As individuals, we have super important roles on our own that support the mission at large. In true collaboration, the mission is shared by all the spokes to help the wheel keep spinning.
Where It Gets Juicy
Now where this gets really juicy: how we as women in business flex on our own personal strengths and reflect them fully back into communities that not only support our individual goals but also those of the greater good for our shared humanity. See business activism, putting our money where our mouth is, walking the talk and talking the walk.
Women Are Natural Collaborators
Studies overwhelmingly show that when women have more money, we invest that money not only in our inner circles but also within our communities. Women are true collaborators. When we build a community of support around women doing business differently, we can learn from each other and see that this work is really hard AND we are not going at it alone.
In other models of business, commerce and power structures, there is a more top down model that serves the few leaders of the organization first and the rest trickles down to the worker bees. I am here to flip that script, to truly do business differently in a more collaborative fashion and as such, we end up sharing more of our tools and resources with our community. Which in turn allows us more seats at the table and to see more women in roles of leadership.
The reason I love to collaborate with women who are industry disruptors and thought leaders is because we not only naturally collaborate, we can take these collaborations to the next level and actually elevate each other.
Same mission, different copy. That is what true collaboration looks like.
We are building a new economic model for women in business, powered by collective intelligence and technology. The flywheel is spinning. Come add your spoke.
Love,
Rose
