What is something your people crave that would be better performed or experienced as a group?

In his book Bowling Alone, Robert D. Putnam references

You don’t have to toil alone. Shift your mindset from stoking the fire to passing the torch. Your community depends on it.

The insights we offer are a distillation of what we’ve learned from participating in, coaching, and researching hundreds of communities. In our early days, we grew the global communities around Instagram, CreativeMornings, and eBay. In our work together since teaming up as People & Company, we’ve helped clients big and small—from companies like

If you want to spark your own community, you’ll need to first pinpoint your people. Find your kindling—those early allies who care about what you care about enough to manifest your idea for a community into an actual gathering of human beings. Though there may not be many of them, the first people you involve are consequential. They will set the to

The inescapable truth is that you’ll have to exceed expectations with your core activity if you want people to show up and keep showing up.

Amateurs try to manage a community, but great leaders create more leaders. Nearly every challenge of building a community can be met by asking yourself, “How do I achieve this by working with my people, not doing it for them?” In other words, approach community-building as progressive acts of collaboration—doing more with others every step of the w

Focus on two criteria: 1. Who brings the energy—who are the people who already engage, contribute, or attend? Don’t try to conjure motivation out of thin air. Start with keen participants. 2. Assuming that the community flourishes, who will you stick with? Cultivating a community is a long-term

Shareable assets allow Downtown Girls Basketball players to avoid starting from scratch every time they tell a story about the community or explain to a potential new member how to get involved. You can’t force people to spread the word. Instead, ask: How can I make it easier for them to do so on their own terms?