by Biz Stone
Why are we building vast personal networks? For most of us, this question is not the primary driver of our continued desire to tap the Follow button. We’re not thinking about the long-term application of these connections. We mostly just want to share pictures with friends, get instant access to information, and so on. We want to play Letterpress and remember whose birthday it is. Instant access to information and people is fantastic. We’ve been doing interesting and fun things since the advent of this newfound connectivity. Nevertheless, I’m asking why?
Why have we become the most hyperconnected humanity that’s ever existed on earth? It’s not about keeping tabs on friends and family. It’s not about playing games. It’s not even about advanced information retrieval or staying informed about world events. The true promise of a connected society is people helping one another.
Again, people are basically good. We are connecting ourselves so that we can help each other. So we can collaborate. What better reason could there be?
We’ve all done this. Driving along the highway, we’ve spotted a person pulled over to the side of the road. Three things go through our mind in a fraction of a second. Fundamentally, people are good, so the first thought we have is I should stop and help.
But then we have other thoughts.
What if it’s a crazy person?
I might get stuck here for hours.
I’ll be late to where I’m going.
The third thing we do is tell ourselves a little lie. They probably have AAA. Or, They probably already have a friend on the way. Maybe even, They probably have AAA and a friend on the way, so if I stop, I’ll just be a nuisance. Then we toss the guilt on our pile for the day and zoom on past.
But what if we stopped? What if we pulled over and asked, “What seems to be the problem? Oh, it’s a flat tire? Do you have a spare? I can change that for you.” Let’s say we changed the flat tire, dusted off our hands with satisfaction, accepted a heartfelt thank-you, and went on our merry way?
How good would we feel? We’d feel amazing! What a great person I am. I stopped and helped someone in need. We’d be full of righteous pride. In fact, we’d find any excuse to share our humanitarian effort with others. “Oh, you guys drove to work today? That reminds me of how I helped this person . . .”
Everyone has empathy inside them, but sometimes it lies dormant until one has an eye-opening experience. They go to Africa. A doctor saves their child’s life. A dear friend needs help. These are specific, unique situations that wake us to a new way of seeing the world. But how can empathy be awakened across whole societies?
If helping others were easy, we’d all do it a lot more. Stopping to change a flat tire takes time, expertise, confidence that you are safe, and possibly a change of clothes. The true promise of a connected society is enabling our dormant potential for empathy. It’s leveraging all this mobile, social connectivity so that helping others becomes as easy asa thumb swipe. Jelly may not be the answer, or the only answer, but at least it’s got the right question guiding it forward.
Global empathy is the triumph of humanity.
CONCLUSION
The bonds I made at Twitter are for life. I’ve orchestrated a few deals connecting charities like DonorsChoose.org and Product(RED) to Jack’s company, Square. I’m on the board of Evan’s company, Medium. Jack and Evan are angel investors and personal advisers to me for my company, Jelly. I hang out with both of them socially, separately, and see them each every week.
Twitter went public just as I was finishing this book. The company got a ton of attention in the press. Everyone was talking about Twitter. Twitter was trending on Twitter. Anytime a company goes public, there’s a lot to say about it, but for me Twitter remains a simple tool that creates great opportunities. It certainly did in my case. I helped make Twitter, and as with all we experience, it helped make me.
I propose that the lessons in this book are core to almost any experience. If you look beyond the everyday of commuting, drinking coffee, working, drinking some more coffee, forwarding various emails among your colleagues, going home to the bills you can or can’t pay this week, if you look past the grind, you will find truths about how and why you get up in the morning, and what infuses color into the black-and-white of reality. Passion, risk, originality, empathy, failure, optimism, humor, wisdom from others—these are the forces that drive our decisions, how we define success, and whether, in the end, our lives add up to a fulfilling whole. There may not be a specific day when you sit down and say to yourself, Self, how can you find the bright spot in this situation? but my hope is that these concepts will filter their way through the challenging moments and poke their heads into the cubicles, offices, living rooms, boardrooms, and bedrooms where paths are carved, directions are changed, and inspiration is born.
I invite you to open your mind to new possibilities. Let’s fake it till we make it. Let’s create visions of an aspirational future.
You don’t have to quit your job. But think about what might change your trajectory by half a degree. It could be that when you come home every night your first words are “I’m home! How can I help?” Try doing that. You may have a shitty job. You don’t like it. You do it for the money, even if the money isn’t great. Try to look at your work in a different way. Find something about your life that’s great. Follow that thread. Volunteer. Even if you’re in the worst possible situation, there’s hope. Challenge yourself. Set your own bar. Redefine your success metrics. Create opportunities for yourself. Reassess your situation.
We are all marching together. We’re headed toward something big, and it’s going to be good.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Getting work done at a startup can be difficult. There are many distractions. I’ve discovered over the years that one of the biggest distractions is me. I’m always talking, joking, sharing ideas, asking questions, and crossing personal boundaries in the name of innovation in a way that I think is “folksy,” but it might not seem that way to everyone. In general, I tend to have an unsettling effect on the people around me. So, to everyone who has endured sitting next to me over the course of my career, I applaud and acknowledge your ability to focus.
To be more specific, aside from my beautiful, smart, loving wife Livia, I’d like to acknowledge a bunch of other people.
Thank you Mandy Stone, Margery Norton, Sarkis Love, Lucien Renjilian-Burgy, Joy Renjilian-Burgy, Donald Burgy, Steve Snider, Marc Ginsburg, Dan Godrick, Jason Yaitanes, Greg Yaitanes, Greg Pass, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Sara Williams, Jason Goldman, Peter Jacobs, Hilary Liftin, Raymond Nasr, Ben Greenberg, Lydia Wills, Nicole Bond, Katie Alpert, Camille Hart, Lauren Hale, Steven Johnson, Stephen Colbert, Ron Howard, Charles Best, Chrysi Philalithes, Doc G, Arianna Huffington, Brian Sirgutz, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Bijan Sabet, Bono, Reid Hoffman, Roya Mahboob, Kevin Thau, Ben Finkel, Brian Kadar, Alexa Grafera, Austin Sarner, Luke St. Clair, Ben Finkel, Steve Jenson, Jason Shellen, Noah Glass, Alexander Macgillivray, Yukari Matsuzawa, Abdur Chowdhury, Giorgetta and Leo McRee, Fritz Glasser, Meghan Chavez, Wellesley High School, and, just to be safe, my past, current, and future self.
To be clear, if you’ve actually read this book, then you know I rushed at the very last minute. And the actual last minute—or past that—to write the acknowledgments. That means I probably forgot names instrumental to my success. You don’t get to the level of success and happiness I’ve achieved without the collaboration of hundreds—possibly thousands—of people.
So, if I forgot to mention you by name, I thank you. What goes around, comes around. If you helped me, please know that I appreciate it, I wish you goodwill, happiness, and health.
Thank you,
Biz
Biz Stone became an Internet entrepreneur in 1999. He went on to work for Google, helped to create both blogging and podcasting, and then co-invented Twitter. Before he was a tech star, Biz wrote books and articles about the social aspects of technology in the nascent days of the web. He regularly addresses large audiences as
a visiting scholar at colleges or keynote speaker for companies and conferences. Most recently, Biz is founder and CEO of his newest venture, Jelly. He lives near San Francisco, California, with his wife and son.
Acclaim for Things A Little Bird Told Me:
‘Biz gives away all his secrets to success. I advised him against it. If you’re not inspired and informed by this book, then you haven’t read it’
STEPHEN COLBERT
‘Biz Stone’s anything-but-ordinary journey both surprises and inspires. Things A Little Bird Told Me is a peek into a unique mind that, I’m happy to add, entertains us as well’
RON HOWARD
‘Most tales of start-up success revolve around a lone genius out-manoeuvring the competition. But the story Biz Stone tells is a riveting – and often hilarious – break from that tradition: a story of collaboration, sharing, and the power of networks’
STEVEN JOHNSON, New York Times
bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From
‘As someone who has personally experienced Biz’s generosity and genius, I’m thrilled that readers of Things A Little Bird Told Me can now draw inspiration from his values and vision. A must-read for anyone who wants to tap their creative potential’
CHARLES BEST,
founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org
First published 2014 by Grand Central Publishing
This electronic edition published 2014 by Macmillan
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ISBN 978-1-4472-7113-0
Copyright © Biz Stone 2014
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