"When we all work together in collaboration, everyone benefits."

A thought by John C. Maxwell & Rob Hoskins in their book, Change Your World (p. 74). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

And we need that in what we are now going through.

Earlier John said, "We currently live in a time of hostility, division, and partisanship. People would rather draw lines and throw stones than engage in conversation and try to find solutions together. In this climate, cooperation may seem like the best we can hope for between people. But that’s selling ourselves short. We can do better."

He continues, "Cooperation is unity for the sake of unity. Cooperation says, 'Let’s just get along or else nothing will get done.' Collaboration is unity for the sake of shared vision. Collaboration says, 'Let’s work together because this has to be done.'

"We believe the implication of cooperation is that people are not working against one another. But when there is true collaboration, they are working for one another. They are intentionally going in the same direction, helping one another to achieve something they all feel is worthwhile."

He goes on, "We see this kind of collaboration between schools in Paraguay. I mentioned that we launched iLead there. As part of the program, students were encouraged to do projects related to the values they’re learning. A school in the program initiated contact with another school in the community to plan how to beautify their town square. Together they picked up trash, painted buildings, and planted flowers. Before long, schools in surrounding communities saw what had happened and started their own projects to beautify their town squares. That has turned into a statewide challenge where schools are competing to do the most for their districts. They are doing more than cooperating. They’re collaborating."

He then said, "When we all work together in collaboration, everyone benefits. I love the image of how coastal redwood trees grow as an example of collaboration. Unlike many other trees that put down relatively deep roots, including a taproot, coastal redwoods don’t. Even though the trees can grow to be nearly four hundred feet tall, their roots are shallow, going down only six to twelve feet. But they spread out broadly—often to more than one hundred feet. And they grow in groves, with their roots interweaving together, making the trees stand strong together, even in violent storms. Though they are the tallest trees in the world, redwoods rarely fall. No wonder they’ve been known to live for longer than two thousand years!"

This is such an important thought. Everyone benefits when and if we collaborate. Yes, yes! #continuethought