"Some people think that you can't be generous until after you become a success. They argue that they have to get theirs, and then they can go ahead and give back. The astonishing fact is that the most successful people in the world are those who don't do it for the money." ~ Seth Godin
Consider this quote from Monday's interview with Calvin head volleyball coach, Amber Warners:
"We're all in this together, and one of my thought processes for the last 20 years is that as coaches we don't help each other enough. I just shared the conditioning program with some high school coaches and they said, 'why would you want to share that? Why would you want to give away your secrets?' Well, this is about doing a job that's really, really difficult. And if it can be a betterment for athletes and help the game be more positive, what's more important than that? You know?"In many ways, it's similar to this one from Ithaca's Johan Dulfer two months ago:
"Recruiting is sales, it's marketing. But I think the key in all of that is being perceived as sincere ... When I'm talking to a club director, I don't say, 'do you have any players for me?' They see right through that. Sometimes I walk away and we didn't talk about recruiting because I didn't want to ruin a nice conversation we were having. You learn to judge that. I don't want to be a person who only talks to someone when they need a player."This comes from two coaches who have been appearing in the Elite Eight on a regular basis.
Rather than, "how can I get better players?" or "how can I win more games?" the question first becomes, "how can I be more generous?"
[more on the gift economy]