Should you become a Nudger?

Did I do enough to help?

I was sad to find that last week a project of a person I know went bankrupt and has to sell all the books she has in stock. She did everything she could, made a podcast, made a great book selection, but didn't find enough support in the community. This is the reason I am writing this article, because I see over and over projects that have outstanding value being lost, and I ask myself now, did I do enough to help? And I am not talking about money here, we bough the books, I am talking about connections, spreading the word, being open about what I like to others or the world.

What is a Nudger?

First of all what is actually a Nudger? It's that person who gives gentle pushes to persons in his circle of friends that he thinks should meet. Outstanding people are very busy and are very focused in their own endeavors so rarely they find the time to look in other directions that could be also work in their own benefit.

Help your high achievers circle

In my circle / network there are many people that have achieved an admirable level of success, and when I say success I talk about the way they apply passion in what they do. One of the things I like is to connect to such passionate people like Cornel Amariei , Mihai Lehene , Calin Iepure , Calin Biris , Mihaela TATU , Avi Cicirean , Cosmin Daraban and I could go on and on about people that I have admired way before they have become personal brands.

You can look in your circle and not only for people who are driven by a cause that aligns with your way to view the world and where you know another person that they don't know and would be relevant for them. Push both of them gently so they can meet in person telling them why you think that other person is relevant for them. After they connect, gently check how it goes and be really patient, this takes months.

Will it work every time? Clearly the answer is no. I have connected an inventor with over 50 inventions in digital audio fields to a company making high level headphones Meze Audio , they have discussed up to now but nothing relevant happened. I didn't give up, when I have found Matei Canavea that works with outstanding acoustics technologies, I knew that may be interesting for them so I touch the risk to be annoying again :).

Find the hidden potential

I remember the time that Adam R. Silva, MS, BS came to Romania with UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) program and thought us how to do business. He nudged us slowly towards a new way of thinking. He didn't need to come to Romania, but his impact was quite big. Most of the people there didn't have a company at that time, but he has shown us our potential. Thank you Adam!

By mentioning Adam I want you to understand that you need to look also at the hidden potential. If you see people that are prepared, have passion in what they do but don't have either the means, the connections or they lack something that you can offer, you can be there for them.

The world today is NOT ______, but did I do enough to change things?

We can find a lot of things that we don't like in the world. We can find a lot of people that are valuable and stay out of sight but at the same time people that don't have so much value that know how to market themselves very well.

If we understand this, we need to act for the ones that have that we believe in and spread the word about them. Being outstanding takes time and energy so this means you have less time for marketing yourself. Each drop you put into knowledge, means less time for spreading the word so each and every of one of us who know those outstanding people need to be nudgers or spreaders.

The call to action: be a timeline architect

Some people say: I don't know what will be in 10 years from now. I say... for sure we don't but you can be a timeline architect. We are going toward a storm of innovation, a quantum leap in thinking, a completely new way of producing goods. Huge waves and waves of change are ahead with faster and faster pace. We might feel we don't have any control about the future, we are too small, we don't count and so on. I say... YOU count, YOU can change the future but YOU MUST ACT and take responsibility.

"If It Is to Be, It's up to Me", so support what you believe in not just by buying but with any other means you have. How will you do it?