One of my favorite movies is Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. I watch it every year, usually by myself, with a glass of Irish whiskey. This year my son, a Gen Z college student, joined me for the first time (His review: “It’s not Die Hard, but it was better than expected.”)
The plot might be familiar if you have not seen the movie, as many later movies have copied it. The first act is learning all about the life of the hero, Geoge Bailey, a man of promise and ambition who consistently has to put his ambitions aside for his family and his community. He desperately wants to “see the world” and “do big things” with his life.
On the cusp of his career, he tells people, “I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long...”
But then life gets in the way. Before you know it, he has a wife, kids, and a family. A sudden financial crisis leads him to believe that everyone would be better off without him.
Thanks to some divine intervention, the second act is George seeing what his world would be like if he were never born. It’s a jarring, darker world – one where the main antagonist, Mr. Potter, has won every battle without George there to thwart his nefarious schemes.
At the risk of spoiling the ending, he realizes he has built a wonderful life – one that matters to everyone around him. At the end of the movie, his brother raises a glass “To my brother George, the richest man in town.” By that point, the audience sees it too.
In our society, we are often measured on our professional or financial success and the trappings that come with it. Big important titles, big bonus checks, a big house or two. The antagonist, Mr. Potter has all those things. Prestige, wealth, power. George had none of those things. His success, as the movie shows, was in the lives he impacted.
When it came to social capital, George's wealth was beyond measure.
Social capital can pay dividends in a crisis (as shown in the movie, when his community rallies around him) and in little ways, with people who can go on our shared journey through life together. Having social capital is not just a hedge for you to fall back on during times of crisis, it involves being there for others.
As we learned about George, building social capital can take work and sometimes sacrifice, and it builds slowly over time. George discovered just how much social capital he had accumulated when his existential crisis hit – and the outpouring of support of friends and family came together.
In my line of work as an executive recruiter, I often see the opposite – people who have very little social capital – and when thrust into a crisis, like losing their job, find they have few people to turn to for help. It’s very common.
The little opportunities to build social capital, are too often sacrificed on the altar of busyness. Deadlines at work, a nonstop tide of emails and deliverables, and time commitments with family leave most of us with little else left but to doom-scroll social media or binge Netflix.
My advice is to be intentional in building your social capital. Here are some suggestions:
· Get a mentor or a mentee. It could be someone at work, in your profession, or through a youth organization. Meet at least monthly.
· Find a local volunteer organization to support and volunteer, regularly, at least once per quarter. Ideally, donate your time or expertise.
· Get lunch, coffee, or walk with someone in your network or you would like to have in your network. Try to do this at least once a week. Do your best to not cancel because some work thing came up – that’s how you go months, or years without connecting with people outside their work bubble. Let’s face it, in the grand scheme of things, there will always be a work “crisis.”
· Speaking of which, find ways to meet new people outside your normal interactions who might share your interests. Serve on a board, join a running club, take a continuing ed class. Websites like Meetup.com can help you find other tribes.
· Try to spend time with real people, in person. Keeping up with friends on social media is an ersatz way to maintain connections. We’ve never been more connected, and never lonelier – because we let the quantity of social media replace the quality of meeting in person. If there is someone far away you want to keep up with, schedule a call or FaceTime with them.
Try not to be transactional – don’t be the person who only reaches out when you want or need something. Just be present, and do the things, without the expectation of a pro quo.
Conversely, don’t be afraid to spend your social capital when you need to. Last summer when I had a family crisis I was powerless to solve – I activated my network and people came out of the woodwork to help – making connections, or offering advice or support.
I will admit, that asking for help was hard for me. I’m so used to being the one solving problems for others, it was new territory for me when I needed help. Just like George Bailey.
For this New Year in 2025 – let’s resolve to get connected. Quality over quantity. We can all be like George Bailey, the richest guy in town.
Thanks for reading. I’m Ed Voelsing and I’m the owner of the Rivet Group, a boutique executive search firm working with middle-market growth companies to find the leaders they need to get to the next level. I write about career growth, recruiting, building company culture, and personal success.
Comments