a single source, nothing corroborates it

Show them rather than argue with them

Nobody is argued out of the way they already work, so demonstrate what you do and leave the choice to them. Put the impressive people you know on the record telling their own story instead of retelling it for them, programme voices from outside your industry when your own is too young to have anything to teach itself, and turn a conversation already in your diary into publishable material while it is still live.

The method

1. 01

   You will not argue anyone out of the way they already work, so show them what you do instead and leave the choice to them.

2. 02

   Rather than retelling the stories of impressive people you know, put them on the record telling it themselves in their own words.

3. 03

   Programme voices from outside your own industry when your industry is too young to have anything to teach itself, instead of putting the same practitioners back on stage.

4. 04

   Turn an appointment already in your diary into publishable material: record the session, get the other side's permission, and release it while the situation is still live instead of waiting until your thinking is tidy.

What it returned

• 40

  Hillman kept a long-booked business ethics Q&A with students days after closing Indy Hall for the coronavirus outbreak, cancelled his other non-essential appointments, recorded it, and published the whole 40 minute discussion with the students' permission.

• Hillman burned time and energy trying to persuade operators running coworking differently that they were heading for failure, and it did not work.

• Hillman had been using his smart friends as worked examples when advising people, and started a podcast so those people could speak for themselves.

• Hillman spent a couple of months recruiting speakers from other kinds of businesses and organisations for the People At Work Summit; coworking was about to pass ten years old and most of its community had under two years of experience.

Sources

• The Importance of LinesAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · Defining Self · 2011-02-01
• Listen to The Coworking Weekly Show! Here are the first 3 episodes.Alex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2014-11-01
• wine, coworking, and the “People at Work” SummitAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2016-02-01
• 📼 Video: Business Ethics, Coworking, and COVID-19Alex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2020-03-01