That’s me. Tracy Borreson. Founder, TLB Coaching & Events. Originator of Collective Contribution. Professional asker of “What if?” questions.
I believe every person has something uniquely powerful to contribute. Not necessarily what’s on their résumé. Not necessarily what they’ve been told they’re good at. And definitely not only what someone else demands from them.
Our experiences. Our strengths. Our skills. Our perspectives.
The things we’ve learned, lived, questioned and figured out along the way.
They all give us something uniquely ours to contribute.
And that understanding of what’s ours? It’s only the beginning.
What happens when we bring it together, collectively?
For a long time, much of my work focused on helping people and organizations discover what was authentically theirs instead of blindly following someone else’s playbook.
It started with the question:What would YOU do?
And eventually, that question created another one:What could WE do?
What happens when I understand what is uniquely mine to contribute, you understand what is uniquely yours, and we choose to invest those contributions in something we collectively care about? Could we create more than collaboration? Could we create momentum?
I think we can. And that’s the hypothesis I’m exploring now.
Collective Contribution: A Working Definition
The working definition is simple:
Collective Contribution is the practice of owning what is uniquely yours to contribute, investing it alongside the unique contributions of others, and creating forward movement toward something you collectively care about.
It doesn’t require us to have identical goals (because we don’t).
It doesn’t require us to think the same way (because we won’t).
And it definitely doesn’t require us to leave the messy, imperfect parts of ourselves at the door (because we can’t).
It requires enough ownership, belonging, investment and reciprocity for us to move toward something together.
Forward. Faster.
Together.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t have all the answers.
And that's rather the point.
Collective Contribution is a hypothesis, not a finished methodology. So instead of sitting in a room trying to perfect it, I’m inviting other people into the exploration. Through Collective Contribution TV, I host generative conversations with people bringing different experiences, perspectives and contributions to questions about ownership, belonging, investment, reciprocity and momentum. And through Think Big, DO BIGGER, we bring people together to see what happens when we intentionally create the conditions for Collective Contribution at a much bigger scale.
Different expressions.
One BIG question.
What becomes possible when we stop contributing only what is demanded of us and start collectively investing what is uniquely ours?
That’s what I’m here to explore. And I’d love for you to be part of the conversation.