As an anthropologist, Margaret Mead is still a hero of mine. In fact, she is the final quote in all of my presentations. So when I saw this story from Ira Byock, I knew I had to share it with you…
Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture.
The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But… no.
Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur that had been broken and then healed.
Mead explained that, in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You can’t run from danger, get to the river for a drink, or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, bound up the wound, carried the person to safety, and tended the person through recovery.
“Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts,” Mead said.
Innovation doesn’t always look like the splint or the medical breakthrough. The innovative spirit that drove civilization into being was empathy.
That’s a quality all of us possess – and a reminder that innovation and disruption don’t happen at the hands of one mighty individual, but rather a team.
In other words, innovation starts with the empathy we have for each other.
And that’s how some ideas travel through organizations faster than others… It’s having empathy for who you’re sharing your breakthrough with and wrapping a narrative around it that they can grasp, get passionate about, and share.