To begin, consider Habit #4 from Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” It’s called “Think Win-Win” and has to do with both collaboration and what Covey calls an “abundance mentality,” based on a belief that there is enough for everybody.
He may not have had Covey’s habit in mind, but filmmaker Mark Johnson had a brilliant win-win idea to film musicians in different parts of the world all singing the same song. He combined the audio tracks and edited the film to finish with an incredibly moving collaboration. Take a look at video below and see if you are not moved by the power of partnership.
One person is able to accomplish a lot, to be sure. But add another person and the accomplishment isn’t just doubled. Something magical happens and the result increases exponentially. Add another person and the increase is even greater. It’s like that old math problem – Which would you take, a million dollars on the first of a 30-day month or a penny doubled every day for those 30 days? Do you know that if you take the penny doubled that by the end of the month you’d have received over 10 million dollars, and over 5 million dollars on the last day alone? It’s a little hard to believe (feel free to do the math yourself to check it, or look at this website). I see that as a metaphor for the power of collaboration.
NEXT STEP: Read Reflection Message #4
Kind Living 