Recycling & Reciprocity: The Foundations of a Good Fix

“Well, thats it. Back to work.” 

The end of the glorious summer weather nudges us back to our desks.

Last month, I was reflecting on a terrible choice of hair dye, even for someone just past primary school. This month has been a busy one filled with DIY. But before we get to that, some tech news…

Yesterday, Google were ordered to pay nearly half a billion dollars in damages for tracking users in “incognito” mode. 

They argue you can turn the spying off (and they probably shouldn’t do that by default), but we should all know by now, if it’s free then you’re the product.

All the big tech firms are after our data, so it’s worth understanding the rules of engagement. If you want something to really bring that message home, I’d recommend watching the great hack.

Google might still be one of the biggest names in tech, but with the rapid changes in AI, it could soon join the household names of fallen giants, not a great end to the summer for them.

A fence

I love this time of year. No doubt by next month, my wife will be knocking on the loft door for the Christmas tree. And I’ll have taken delivery of our winter logs from our old friends at Kneebone Trees.

But first, the fence fell down.

Luckily, our neighbours are brilliant and pretty handy, so we decided to spend a weekend doing the repairs together. The joining of two gardens felt unexpectedly meaningful, and there was a moment of sadness when we were split once again by the last panel.

Breaking up postcrete in 30-degree heat is not recommended. 

But DIY builds character, mostly the kind that grumbles a lot and Googles ‘how long does postcrete take to set’ at 11pm.

The ground work took twice as long and was twice as hard as the satisfying job of putting the panels back up. It reminded me how much of our tidy development work goes unseen, compared to the longer discussions we have around design.

Two small things stood out.

1. I love recycling

With some left-over panels I knocked up a bin store.

Recycling is a microdose of positivity, and now it doesn’t just look like I’ve abandoned some plastic boxes down the side of the house.

Its a far cry from my childhood when the news talked about the state of landfill and we only had one bin.

Now, our local authority has added a battery bag to the recycling collection. Get yours and save a trip to the supermarket.

Reuse. Recycle. The “reduce” part? The glass bin currently sounds like a samba band playing “good weather beer and wine bottle” vibes.

2. Buying anything is always a marketing lesson

I needed a 7-foot panel, rare, apparently because you need planning permission for anything over 6 foot. 

Turns out a 7-foot fence panel is less a product and more a lifestyle choice requiring paperwork, so I reached out to a few suppliers. 

As always, I try to keep a third-party lens on the process. It’s not quite a busman’s holiday, but I’m always on the lookout for things I can bring back to this community.

In recent years, WhatsApp has crept into the sales process. If you haven’t seen it, the business version is part shop, part messaging tool and part lightweight CRM. You can automate messages, tag conversations, and create quick responses.

Neither fencing supplier I contacted seemed to be using all of those features. But I do know which one I’d go back to…

A reminder that whatever technology we adopt, there’s a human interaction behind it.

I thanked the second one for such excellent and honest customer service, and in the spirit of reciprocity, I’d suggest that Charlfleets Fencing will probably look after you well.

Is reciprocity underused?  

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill famously said didn’t say, apparently. Gandhi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

In business, we often turn up to conversations thinking about what we can take from them, not what we can bring. And why not? Sales experts will say we’re solving problems, removing pain points. That’s the value we offer.

But to me, that’s just stinky sales breath.

What if we showed up with empathy first?

Robert Cialdini’s classic book Influence is now over 40 years old. One of its most important insights is this: humans are hardwired to respond positively to generosity.

Whether it’s time, attention, a freebie, or emotional support, when you help someone without expecting anything in return, they often do give something back.

All the people I look up to most have this in common. They give without thinking of themselves. And they have a community around them they freely serve.

[Poignant Aside: When a digital challenge hits, feel free to allow me to help you as best I can.]

I’ve heard all the hesitations.

“Charity begins at home, mate.”

“We’ll build community when we hit our targets.”

“We do our bit.”

But perhaps we could all do a little more. 

And if we each made it a point to help one another more often, we’d all benefit.

This year, I have given up more time helping people for free, than ever before. I will report back with a tally of my efforts in this year’s Impact Report.

My unofficial KPIs for the year will include: people helped, log deliveries received, and how many fence panels are still standing.

I’ve joined more networks, shared more ideas, and made it a rule to introduce someone new after every one-to-one I have. 

Sometimes it’s a loose connection. Sometimes a shared interest. Sometimes even someone in the same industry (yes, even a competitor).

Nearly always, they make a point of saying thank you, and often they come back to say some business has been done.

Make an introduction today

We often spot potential connections and like the idea of making them, but something holds us back. 

Maybe we worry what the introduction says about us, or we act differently around each person, or deep down we fear they’ll get on better without us.

It’s like introducing your work friends to your old school mates, something feels risky.

Whatever the reason, it’s probably worth letting most of that go.

Perhaps the issue might be in the nature of the introduction, if that’s you, then here’s my worry-free technique…

I make the intro, hype everyone up like a proud parent, then step quietly out the back door.

I send a short email or LinkedIn message with both parties in it. Explain what they do. Explain why I thought of connecting them. And most importantly, I promise nothing except the opportunity for them to take it forward.

If you haven’t done this before, give it a go and see what happens.

I feel like there’s a spectrum of reciprocity to explore here too, and at the other end are the scallywags, the short-sighted con artists, only in it for themselves.

For those, the story I tell myself is simple: they don’t get my time, attention or assets.

But multiply that behaviour out. 

At one end, you get connection, warmth and community (maybe a shared fence). 

At the other, a lonely path of take-take-take (and endless LinkedIn sales pitches).

And those roads lead somewhere very different, a long way down the line.