Harnessing Serendipity: a book featuring 66 collaboration artists

I am delighted and honored to be featured in ‘Harnessing Serendipity,’ a unique book that explores the magic of facilitating connection that leads to collaboration. It includes the stories of 66 “talented connectors” who share insights on how they create transformative experiences. The primary professions of the collaboration artists the authors include are wide-ranging—to say the least. We are actors, impresarios, meeting designers, diplomats, teachers, musicians, creative directors, facilitators, management experts, sports team owners, fundraisers, journalists, experiential marketers, retreat leaders, event producers, philanthropists, coaches, and dealmakers!

The book, by BizBash founder and friend David Adler, James Cornehlsen, and Andrew Frothingham, classifies the people David calls collaboration artists into six groups. We are people who…

• Create safe spaces for conversations;
• Facilitate awareness for others;
• Foster community and belonging;
• Stimulate creativity;
• Cultivate wonder and curiosity; and
• Nurture empathy.

I appear in the section on fostering community and belonging. However, the work of everyone included in this book incorporates most if not all of these approaches. They are all important modalities that support people coming together to meaningfully connect and collaborate.

The authors define a collaboration artist as follows:

A “Collaboration Artist” knows how to bring people together, enroll them in a common mission, create idea flow, and translate ideas into new solutions to solve problems and drive achievement of important goals. From modest challenges like moving a small corporate initiative forward, to eradicating a disease, whether in small or large endeavors…collaboration equals success!
—”An Invitation”, Harnessing Serendipity

My take on Harnessing Serendipity

Harnessing Serendipity celebrates the art of connection and collaboration. It’s an easy and absorbing read; you can dip into it and pick up little gems everywhere. The book opens your mind to what is possible, yet it’s sobering to realize that it just scratches the surface. I know quite a few of the featured collaboration artists. All of them have much more value to share than can be included in this book.

Perhaps the authors’ greatest gift is to introduce the reader to people who can change how the world thinks about convening, connecting, and collaborating. Certainly, that’s been my focus for the last forty years. I encourage all readers to explore working with any of the people featured in the book, and thank the authors for making us more visible, and perhaps a little more influential than we were before.