The way of the lone wolf is over. And when we see this truth in business, it means we can begin to look even closer at it in relationship.

Common modes of American business are completely over.  We are seeing an economic refiguring of the world in order to even function day-to-day.  In business and finance, independence may be on the way ‘out’, as playing alone may not serve the emergent future and survival of the whole may take precedence over survival of the fittest.

For instance, take those small business owners who have survived the economic plummet:  they are relying on community and connection to build relationships and thus sales.  Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are no longer just ways ‘some’ spend their idle time, they are now representative of how ‘many’ are spending much their time to connect, co-create, and collaborate.

Connection does not mean melding.  Connection has never required that we view each other as same-same and slide into the identity of one another as a pseudo-Jello-vibratory-being.  Instead, interdependence is serving as much more than an emergent buzzword.  By definition, it requires that each respond to the nature of his or her unique gifts and direct them to the service of the whole, thus, co-creating a tapestry of strength and color that does not just survive, it thrives.

I love that Wikipedia shares this thought on Interdependence,

“A child is born dependent and is celebrated, in an independent society, when they can say “I can do it for myself.” However a tribal child is encouraged to grow beyond independence into interdependence, so they can say “I can do it for others”.

Truly successful tribes and organizations are by their nature inherently interdependent, whose elder leadership’s multi-generational visioning skills are guiding and evolving diverse competing interests into completing interests, for the benefit of all.

The independent is grandchild to the interdependent.   ~ Tom Harris

If now being cutting edge means not be cut throat, the manner in which relationships are called to evolve is nothing short of the revolution of evolution recognized on the importance of this Fourth of July. As we withdrew our dependence from England so long ago, our current pulling away is just as significant, only this time it is to gain individual perspective as to who we each really are from an already independent level.  Who we love, how we serve, who we serve, and what we serve is not the only list at stake.  The over arching question is so much more than ‘what is meaningful’, it is, ‘what am I willing and able to do about it’.

By asking that, we take friendships, working relationships, and marriages of time and space to the next level of love and integration.  We are truly becoming a ‘we’ because we are ready.  We are willing, from an individual and personal level, to extend from a core of strength and power into an expectant collective.

From there, from that, it is merely math, as a ‘we’, we are much stronger than a singular ‘you’ or ‘me’.

I need you need to be strong.  You deserve the same from me.

Together, we are capable of more than we ever thought possible.  Relationships between independent parties who choose to come together are radically fulfilling.

Here’s to evolving ever so past Independence, here’s to the new chant of interdependence,

Shan