Building Wealth with Connections

Wealth: yours, mine, and theirs, is all about relationships.

If you show me a business or way of creating wealth not connected to relationships, I’ll show you a bankrupt way of life.

Yet, in so many avenues and pursuits, relationships and the connectedness required to foster healthy relationships are set aside for efficiency.

One of the key leadership trends I anticipate for 2025, In-Person is the Way, was partly developed based on this podcast conversation with Kylie Felker.

When she equivocally stated, ‘We are an in-person business’ and went on to give merit to the rationale and the practice, I was all-in.

Because business is all about relationships.

I fully understand remote work is valuable and has its place.  But I think it's fair for an organization to know its business model, what makes it unique, and what makes it offer its best value to customers.

Maximize Relationships with Connection

In my leadership modeling, connection is synonymous with empathy.  Those who actively build relationships with connection are practicing empathy.

Connection is knowing that two are stronger than one. When we are connected, we increase our value and the value of others.

The development of human value leads to wealth because the real measurement of wealth is value.

Money is a poor measurement of wealth, even though it's the most prominent social signifier of wealth because it is meaningless without relationships.

If you have money and no relationships, what do you have? Nothing.

In our society and many businesses, curating connections and developing relationships seems secondary to the ‘real work to be done.’

Based on my experiences, building internal and external relationships is all that really matters in an organization.

Relationships are the source of new business, the work performed by that business, and the next great iteration devised.

Sure, people will put up with the hard-charging results, but only I will force the work to be done.  But it won't last.  At some point, the abrasion creates a blister, and the ignored pain for results can't be dismissed.

Value

Several years ago, when John Maxwell released his book Change Your World. In the book, John shares how we can make a difference anywhere and with anyone by understanding values.

In the past, it became chic to create corporate values, such as integrity, hard work, responsibility, honesty, and attitude. We have seen these words posted in hallways, boardrooms, and websites.

But how often did we talk about them?  How often do we sit with our friends or coworkers and discuss the elements of each value?  How have we experienced or perceived the values?

We don’t.

We expect the one-time work of picking the values out and putting a stake in the ground to say, “See, we have values; they are right over there.”

But some people do, and I have learned that the more we discuss and recognize our organization’s values or our connection to them, the more they come to life.

Kylie shared how they recite the values at Foster Victor before each meeting.  They shared examples of how their values had been lived out the previous week.

This is gold.  Its connection and relationship gold.  We don't have to all have forgiveness as one of our top core values.  But when you share how forgiveness has shaped your life, where you place forgiveness as a catalyst in your work, I can understand the value differently.  With and from that understanding, a connection has been made.  Value!

The Roundtable

Before I close this message and our time today, I invite you to do more within the Impact Driven Leader Community. 

It's an invitation for you to build connections with like-minded people and enhance relationships.

When discussing the value of the Roundtable with several alumni members this last week, they shared such things as, “It's a place where I can come, be heard, hear from others, share my challenges and know that I will gain perspective and encouragement to lead with more confidence and connection.”

The Impact Driven Leader Roundtable was started in 2021 to provide a place, space, and community for people to learn and grow together as leaders.  

I invite you to learn more about The Roundtable and build the relationships that will help you become the leader you and those around you deserve. 

This group meets weekly from February through November via Zoom. In the first year, we focus on the Awaken the Leader Within course, where we identify how to Awaken, Grow, and Lead.

Applications to join for 2025 are now open.

Did you catch this podcast? If not, listen to it here.