TED is a nonprofit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading”. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design (thus, TED). Since then its scope has become ever broader.  From the influence of national events, local communities have gained opportunity to bring ideas from local people in their community to the community directly. As a result, people are inspired.

One particular talk inspired me. Caleb Chancey is a photographer and a musician from Birmingham, Alabama. His talk about collaboration is inspiring.  From the tiniest molecule to governments, collaboration takes place everywhere.  His talk reminds us that we need people in our lives. We need to collaborate. We cannot help but collaborate. This is why we have offices, friends, family, business associates, Facebook, and Twitter.  We are connected to others.  In this world of connectedness, when was the last time you experienced intentional collaboration? Caleb says, “When you stretch outside of yourself, and form unexpected collaborations, you have the potential to make something unique and beautiful.”

There are endless ways to correlate collaboration in our everyday lives, but I want to focus on leadership.  If you are a leader, you are collaborating with others. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to spark your collaboration:

• What are you doing to facilitate collaboration in your workplace, school, or home?
• When was the last time you were intentional about collaboration?
• How often do you collaborate with people outside of your industry?
• What is one way you can collaborate with someone this week?