The Reliants Project #46 and we're back!
How networks shape our lives
Thank you to all the readers who have nudged me to get this newsletter back on track! My apologies for the radio silence over the last several months. As some of you may know, I recently started a new role as Community Director at Atomico. I took time between roles to reconnect with friends, family, and nature. I also focused my first couple months in the role building relationships with my new colleagues and becoming embedded in a new organisation and culture. It’s been very exciting!
At the bottom of the newsletter I’ve added a new section called Resources, where I’ll put links to the most commonly used content so it’s extra easy to access. Since I haven’t shared for a while, here’s a collection of nuggets about how networks shape your wellbeing, relationships and community to help you actively cultivate yours.
Wellbeing
The title of this article says it all: Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty: More Friendships Between Rich and Poor. Many of you have heard me talk about the importance of redistributing “ties” in addition to wealth. I was so excited to see the results of this important work published.
Here’s another fascinating piece of research you might find interesting that was just published on Nature this week. They asked the question “Are there differences in the mental health and well-being of user groups of different social media platforms?” and found that users of some platforms tend to have higher wellbeing:
“User groups differ primarily by sex and YouTube users are the most likely to have poorer mental health outcomes. Instagram and Snapchat users tend to have higher well-being than the other social media sites considered.”
Relationships
Remember Max Dickins from the podcast? His book, Billy No-Mates: How I Realised Men Have a Friendship Problem came out this summer. It’s fantastic and I highly recommend you read it or share it with a male friend who you think would benefit.
HBR has put out a special issue called The New Rules of Networking (paywall) which shares practical advice grounded in research around networks relevant to our connected age. If you are looking at new jobs, are in a business development role, or just grew into a leadership position, might be worth the money.
Community
This week I finally read David Spink’s book, The Business of Belonging: How to Build Communities That Grow the Bottom Line. There were parts of it that resonated with me so much it felt like I was reading my own words. If you’re thinking through a community strategy, this is the book for you!
Even though I didn’t get my act together to share this in time for the Host Fellowship deadline, I still want to make you aware that Huddlecraft is helping organisations to host huddles internally. What an incredible way to support employees and community building within an organisation. Huddlecraft is the new name for Enrol Yourself, and you might recall my conversation with the founder Zahra here.
Resources
Links to the most commonly used content:
The Reliants Project Library: Recommended resources for the community curious
Community Reading List: Favourite books of the Atomico Community Team
The Reliants Project newsletter archive: Links I’ve shared in previous newsletters
About The Reliants Project
Reliant is my word for a person that someone depends on, an essential component of our social networks. With each edition, I’ll share useful nuggets about how networks shape your wellbeing, relationships, and community to help you actively cultivate yours. Whether you want to make better introductions, build better social products and services, or activate networks to make an impact in the world, let me help you reach your goals.
You can find more about The Reliants Project here.