#WhatIHeard & #WhatILearned About Building Bridges

This afternoon in Greenville, SC, #YeahThatGreenville, over 700 participants convened for the opening session of the #TogetherSC Annual #Nonprofit Summit. 

Since everyone can’t be here - by they way, I wish you were here - I’m posting a summary of #WhatIHeard. I hope you find these takeaways useful and I hope you decide to attend next year’s Summit. 

Session: Summit Kickoff Part One: What It Take to Build Bridges

Summary: All communities have voids and equity gaps. If engineered properly, bridge are the infrastructure that can allow us to connect these different destinations and cross troubled-waters. 

Panelists: John Castile, Minor Shaw, and Katy Smith. 

Moderator: Sean Dogan

Here’s #WhatIHeard & #WhatILearned

1. Money is not the sole answer to our problems. 
2. It’s a difficult process to build a bridge. 
3. This is not easy work. We must be willing to be vulnerable, put ourselves “out there”, and be the first to be vulnerable. 
4. If you’re trying to build a relationship, find out what the other person wants out of the relationship. 
5. It’s always about relationships - it doesn’t matter if you’re working in the public, private, or nonprofit sector. 
6. People have to see what part they play in achieving a vision. 
7. When working in community - respect others, know the history, & know the landscape. 
8. We need to have open forums to listen to diverse input. 
9. Once you’re in the relationship business you never get out. 
10. Sometimes a win is just avoiding a big loss. 
11. When tackling high stakes projects there won’t be a perfect win for everyone. 
12. There is tremendous value in bringing people with different perspectives to the table. 
13. Listening is critical. 
14. Building trust is important to building relationships. 
15. Say yes to listening, yes to loving the work we do, yes to being ourselves, & yes to building bridges in the work that we do. 

I hope these takeaways help you and your team learn, connect, and perform. 

#WhatIHeard #TakeAways #RememberThis #LearnConnectPerform