it isn’t that i didn’t know it existed before…the concept of power that goes beyond money and into who you know. i mean our president is a prime example of that…getting into an ivy league school with, although i have no proof – is accepted lore, less than stellar grades. come on, if that isn’t daddy at work i don’t know what is.
 
but i think my time here in zed working and playing with rotary folk makes me understand on a whole new level exactly how powerful “who” you know can really be.
 
the other day i caught a ride to the rotary meeting with a member. as is usually the case, we were talking and getting to know each other a little better than 50 people all at once n a meeting will allow. he began talking about a program one of the other members had going on in another island. they were collecting and shipping science blocks.
 
now hear me when i say this. they were NOT shipping science instruments piecemeal, they were sending whole buildings prefab style blocks and shipping the whole thing over. now – the original plan was apparently a little questionable regarding stability and so one of the members called a friend…in the military…who just so happened to have room on a plane or helicopter and the ok to land on an airstrip.
 
they asked a favor and had a building moved.
 
that isn’t like asking to borrow $5 or even $500, that goes well beyond anything i could ask ANY of my friends for at this point in my life.
 
but see, i can’t really say that anymore. because i know people who do have connections that can make things possible.
 
i make a point to tell people what i am doing in my life – what i am trying to accomplish. i think it helps me to connect with anyone who has information i can us or who can help me out. so at my first rotary meeting introduction i mentioned my interest in maori and pacific island health.
 
do you know that no less than 5 people came forward in some way or another to help me out with someone they know or could contact – or something they do themselves. that is so meaningful. that is so powerful.
 
that is social capital at work.

2 Comments on social capital

  1. [deleted] says:

    Social capital…In b-school we call this networking. đŸ˜‰

  2. AJ says:

    I concur with TJ once again…but it is a lovely thing isn't it? my dad calls it "the hook up" but hey its still the same.

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