In today’s social media soaked world, almost everyone is amplifying something.
Whether we are liking or following or commenting or pausing to read, all of us are signaling and boosting particular themes, memes, and narratives. It wasn’t that long ago that only giant media companies had the reach and resources to amplify and promote to all of humanity. Now, anyone with a connected mobile device has a similar capacity.
But, we’ve always had the opportunity to amplify in our peripersonal worlds (or the world most of us operate in on a daily basis). We’ve always had the opportunity to amplify within our families, our network of friends, our work teams, our religious communities.
Whether in our peripersonal lives or in our online experiences, it can be all-too-human to easily amplify the concerns, the perceived problems, the jealousies, fear, anger, tribalistic “truths,” suspicions, and, even conspiracies. If we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves adding less positive, life-affirming, hope-inducing value to the world, and, in fact, amplifying the opposite.
The most effective advancement professionals are those who traffic in hope, who encourage our nature’s better angels, who affirm generosity, who amplify the positive and the potential, and who delight in inviting others to do good.
They don’t approach our work in this way because it’s easy or effortless to do. They don’t do it because they were born with a sunny disposition. They don’t do it because it’s uncomplicated or simple.
They do it because they make a choice. A daily – perhaps even hourly choice – to focus on the positive and the opportunities before all of us.
They do it because they know life can be burdensome enough without purposefully adding to the load.
