I grew up in a small town in Maine, but I don’t think of myself as a small-town guy. My parents were involved in local community service groups. My Dad was the Cub Scout leader, a member of the Jaycees and the Elks club. And I remember helping him and other volunteers build a kiddie […]
I grew up in a small town in Maine, but I don’t think of myself as a small-town guy.
My parents were involved in local community service groups. My Dad was the Cub Scout leader, a member of the Jaycees and the Elks club. And I remember helping him and other volunteers build a kiddie pool, which literally changed the town park’s landscape.
The town I live in now isn’t small. And while I’ve been part of our local theater and coached youth basketball, I am not nearly as involved as my parents were in shaping the future of the town I grew up in.
Honestly, the idea of effecting change here seems more daunting; the thought of all the hoops, of filling forms, getting approval from committees, not to mention dealing with naysayers, doesn’t exactly inspire someone to take action.
And then, I cracked open Becky McCray’s new book and read the beginning of the Idea Friendly Creed.
“We are a community of possibilities, not of problems. We are action takers. We are optimistic.”
Those lines alone got me nodding my head, and they set the stage for a book filled with everything the subtitle of The Idea Friendly Guide promises: “Practical, Immediate Steps to Break Free from Old-Way Thinking and Transform Your Community’s Future.”
I’m also partial to some of the books’ more irreverent encouragement.
“We don’t care about titles or who holds official positions. The people who do hold titles may not think like us. That’s ok. No one can stop us from doing the little things that really matter.”
The Method
The Idea Friendly method is simple.
“Gather Your Crowd with an idea that entices others.
Build Connections to turn your crowd into a powerful network.
Take Small Steps to accomplish your idea together.”
Hang a trash bag where folks hang out, and they’ll use it. Social contract repaired. Photo by Rob Hatch.
For years, I (and others) have been telling Becky that this method would work really well in all sorts of scenarios. She knows we’re right, but it’s really meant for you or for me to use to shape the future of our communities.
A while back, I wrote about taking a trash bag with me to my local fishing spot to clean up some of the cans and other trash people left behind. I also hung a trash bag from a tree and filled it with a few cans to get things started. A few weeks later, it had more trash in it, rather than scattered on the ground.
It was Becky and her method that inspired me to, in some small way, shape a tiny corner of my community. Because as the Idea Friendly Creed says, “We create the moments that show what this town could be and the places that take our breath away, if only just for a moment. What we create doesn’t have to be permanent to create possibility.”
I think that’s one of the things I appreciate most about Idea Friendly. That we can take small practical steps, that what we create can be measured in moments. And by creating those moments, those small wins, we have something we can build on.
Of course, small towns need businesses to grow. I think that’s where Idea Friendly thrives because, as great as those start-up competitions and pitch contests might be, I think I prefer the Idea Friendly perspective.
“We’d rather help 10 people try their own ideas than to hold a vote and tell everyone to support the “winner.” That might be more efficient, but efficiency isn’t our goal. Community is our goal. And we try everyone’s ideas.”
Imagine a town (or any place) where community is the goal. Sounds like a good place to start a business.
Have a great week.
Rob
P.S. Go grab a copy of The Idea Friendly Guide. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a small-town person; it’s a damn good book.
