Social Equity and Endless Opportunity

If you could bottle this, it’d be worth millions. In fact, I know of just one strategy that requires no money and has the same compounding power of compounding interest investing. Fancy research folks would call it social equity, but we might just call it reputation. 

It’s difficult to calculate how much every day preceding this one is with you when you walk into a room. This “social equity” is mostly impossible to understand, because for those with great social capital things tend to come to them. It feels automatic and effortless. The phone rings and emails come in for opportunity and growth in a way that feels like magic. 

For those with low social capital, there is no signal that you’re not getting an opportunity that you otherwise would have. This is deceiving, because it doesn’t feel like you’re missing opportunity. It just feels like there isn’t opportunity. 

That’s a profound difference. 

So, what do we do about this? Well, the ideal scenario would be to go back in time and be nicer to people in elementary school, but the second best option is to start improving who you are in your community today. 

It’s important to note that it’s a mistake to read this article and start doing things that you think deserve social capital. In fact, that’s what most people do who still don’t have a remarkable reputation. Would you be drawn to someone who is trying to collect points just for community standing? 

I hope not. 

As corny as it sounds, the action you’d need to take is to become someone with a powerful community standing. The beauty is that if you do so, everyone wins.