what makes a community?

"networks connect, communities care"

i find myself coming back regularly to this simple yet profound line from Henry Mintzberg.

in recent times, "building community" is a phrase thrown around ad nauseam. nearly every other person/brand/organization has a community now.

while i, too, often refer to myself as a community builder, this is mainly because it's an identity that others can readily grasp without much context. but lately, i'm trying to use the word "community" more intentionally – in part because i think it is frequently misapplied to what are actually *networks*. i want to explicitly differentiate between these two, because I believe communities require far more finesse and intentionality to cultivate.

networks are everywhere. and, as you've probably experienced after going to any networking event, or joining a large slack group, the affiliations therein are typically quite loose. granted, i think this is fine – not every social structure requires tight relations. networks are valuable in their own right. nonetheless, they often lack the depth of connection that many of us seek, whether we are aware of it or not. networks allow us to go wide, but not deep. you likely couldn't rely on someone in a network to support you during a personal crisis.

what, then, makes a community?

for me, the distinguishing factor is the quality of relationships that a community enables—relationships of care. communities have less permeable boundaries; there is a sense of a tangible threshold being crossed when you enter – you can viscerally notice that a certain level of commitment is necessary to participate, or that certain agreements must be made around ways of being together, etc.

in communities where this quality of connection is properly nurtured, there is an underlying current of responsibility for each other, like a fabric where each person is a weave in the tapestry. it might be subtle, but it's there. in a community, you need to be there for others. you need to show up. you are behooved to know more about the multitudes of other members, beyond just work. you are magnetized into taking action.

this is hard work, but also how a culture of care emerges. it can be exhausting at times - but also creates a web of belonging in which people start thinking things like "people know/value me here, and i know/value them", and "i know how to contribute".

all this being said, i prefer to describe what we're doing at kizuna collective as “hosting events” and “curating social experiences” rather than “community building” – i think this is a more honest assessment of where we're at right now. while our events have certainly fostered (often deep) connections, I don't believe they yet have the consistency required to genuinely be called a community. but we're gradually getting there!

a prompt for reflection:

what networks & communities are you a part of? are you satisfied with the quality of relationships in those groups?