If I were a carpenter, what would I build? I think of carpenter’s a builder’s, in fact, I think of entrepreneur’s the same way. Business owner’s used to be builder’s, but something happened, they were lulled into management mode. Carpenter’s are also builder’s from the industrial age, the art of carpentry is a dieing art, well at least the way we think of it. But that’s the point, how we think.

I have said many times, over and over again, it’s the tag on this blog, Mindset trumps skillset everytime. How we think about building, how we think about our business, how we think about everything really, it’s all changing and we are not. I was sharing with Chris Brogan on Kitchen Table Talks last week about how the this area has yet to embrace a new way of doing business. The new way? Becoming a social business, a human business. What are we so afraid of?

If I were a carpenter, I would build a business that opens your mind, that shares this new concept, this new open & free business model….wait….I have built it, but is it done? There’s another problem, we think in terms of being finished, social businesses, human businesses are never done. Do you think your relationships with people and businesses are ever finished, no. So why do we think, just because we are building a business, it will be finished someday? If you think you are finished, you will be. Think about that for a moment, let it settle for a moment.

You see, my business, I hope it is never done, I hope it draws you in, I hope it causes you to question the status quo….always. My prayer is that you will want to learn new ways of adopting the new way of doing business, if you don’t, someone else will, and your business will be finished.

There are some incredible people out here on the Internet sharing, (far too many too mention here) all the time, teaching you to see business differently, you want to but….you seem to fall back to what you’ve always done. It happens everytime you get into management mode, new ways are too hard to implement and maintain in your head, so you do what you’ve always done. Push back as hard as you try, time gets you everytime.

Imagine if you, just for a moment, what if being a carpenter was just invented today, what would you build? You build something that no longer works, or would you invent something new?

I challenge you, ask yourself the question based as if being a carpenter was invented today. If you were a carpenter, what would you build? A traditional business? probably, but I would suggest a different model. I would build a very open and free business model, a social business, a human business. What say you?

Related articles

• Future Scratches (chrisbrogan.com)
• Owen Greaves On Kitchen Table Talks With Chris Brogan (owengreaves.com)
• Do you have a people strategy? (sethgodin.typepad.com)