The Power of Relationships

What if you could connect people, ignite fresh thinking and create shared ownership for results?

According to anthropologist and cultural experts, our beloved country, Liberia, is among the nations in the global south (not the third world as economists have historically dubbed Africa) that is believed to be highly communal. That is, we are not like countries that are primarily individualistic. While there are arguments supporting overt values of either communalism or individualism, the reality is that prevalent in Liberian culture is the importance of community.

One thing that is central to an authentic community is relationships. In an effort to avoid prolonging the conversation here, I am sure we have heard that in most communities in Liberia, “everybody knows everybody”. This, of course, is being simplistic! However, the truth remains that we believe in developing relationships that extend beyond the biological core family.

While there are many unfortunate instances that have demonstrated our using relationships for personal gains, my intent in this forum is to encourage us to utilize relationship for positive outcomes in community and nation building. We can use relationships (old and new) as learning labs for effective changes in our country. I am confident that we all can utilize our relationships to be positive change-makers.

In future posts, I will attempt to unravel the power of relationships to creating professional networks that would be beneficial to making Mama Liberia accomplish not only greatness, but also to be a significant nation to contend with in our global community.

Yours truly,

Dennis Walker, PhD