The Value of Interaction

Recently, I was faced with a small- a very small - group of people to work with.  Smaller than usual.  In some senses, it should have been easier, as there were fewer people to know, and I could go deeper with each.  But what you lose in a group that is few in numbers is the collaborative effect.  The interactions of people with each other is tremendously important.  We often underestimate that, and the result is that we talk at one other without ever having a discussion.

If half the act of working with others is listening, and it's hard to hear what isn't being said.  Think about that when trying to expand your own understanding of something new, or exploring an existing topic to try to uncover previously hidden gems of insight.  We need others not simply as sounding boards for our ideas, but also to reinterpret them through their own lens of experience and add perspectives we may not have acknowledged.  Interaction, collaboration - call it whatever you like... we learn through each other as much as from each other.