To help you assess if collaborating with me is the right choice for you, here are the key principles that guide my decision-making and that I tend to look for when partnering with people or organizations.
You won't find an important value below: kindness. Because caring about others and treating people with respect goes without saying.
Realistically speaking, I cannot guarantee that our collaboration will result in exactly the future outcomes we envision in the present, but I can promise to act in your best interests (as long as they do not harm others).
This includes being transparent about how I reach conclusions, documenting my work, and proactively letting you know if potential risks are on the horizon. I will also be upfront with you in case my services or availability might not fit your needs best and will happily recommend people from my network instead.
You might be familiar with the quote, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." Building a diverse team and drawing on different perspectives, experiences, and professional skills endows us with a fully-equipped tool box to solve a wide range of problems.
You work as a waiter or waitress? Perfect, we need your active listening and strong communication skills to empathize with people. You're excellent at memorizing subway lines? Please teach us your strategies, they can help us make sense of our data! You're an experienced woodworker? Awesome, we could use your talents to build our prototypes. Everyone has skills to contribute and knowledge to share.
As a recovering perfectionist I've learned two things over time: First, I'd rather be good than perfect, and second, progress is better than perfection.
Being open to feedback and willing to continuously learn and grow goes a long way in both business and in life―and surrounding ourselves with people who support and celebrate our growth is very empowering.
Having the courage to embrace change, take calculated risks, and explore new directions. Having the courage to treat failure as an opportunity to learn. And most importantly: Having the courage to do the right thing.
Individual actions matter, especially when it comes down to addressing structural problems or creating solutions to complex social challenges. Speaking up and taking action when someone needs our help or when we witness injustice can make all the difference.
Almost everything in life is connected one way or another and our behavior impacts the people around us. Remembering that we're all in this together and having compassion for our fellow human beings will pay off in the end.
The future depends on the choices we make today and with our decisions (and some hope to move forward, no matter the circumstances) we can create the collective future we want to live in.
© 2024 Lisa Hehnke | CC BY-SA 4.0