Re-imagining the role of partnership brokers
Photo by Bernal Fallas on Unsplash
It started with a mutual moment of reflection, one that felt all too familiar to us both:
Why do partnerships that hold potential to be transformational so quickly revert back to transactional; and why is this especially true when those in power start to understand that it might offer financial value?
At their heart, partnerships were meant to change the system itself rather than rattle the cages inside. It seems that the real tension lays between the system we're captured by, and the visions we have.
A little-known document, Dr Vivek Murthy's Parting Prescription to America contained a gift in bridging this tension. Murthy describes a shift away from success (fame, wealth and status - e.g. infinite growth on a finite planet), toward fulfilment (relationships, service and purpose - e.g. a world where we have ‘enough’).
We’ve been guided by Murthy’s work in our weekly exploration into the role of a partnership broker in this liminal space between what no longer serves us and the futures we envision. It made us reflect on how we can shift the way we connect, relate, and anchor our ways of being away from what we think we should do (a state of mind), toward what our hearts beat for (a state of heart).
We would like you to reflect with us on the following questions:
What if we helped partners share resources that have a multiplying effect like love, kindness and courage?
What if instead of trying to help partners norm and behave in certain ways – we took a stance against neutrality and role modelled the values of a better future like reciprocity and a sense of solidarity?
What if brokering relationships was less about bringing order, control and structure and more about holding a container for emergence in a chaotic context?
We have been reflecting together too and in this series we will each share more about what we have been writing. We’ll share links to each reflection in this series as we publish them below.
Reflections: