Don’t Leverage Relationships

I read a post from Gary Vaynerchuk earlier today titled, The Leverage Of Being A Good Person. As someone who has built a life on building relationships and giving, I had to respond. Here is my response I left on Meddle:

Building social capital is not about having leverage. If you are building relationships with the intent that some point you use it to use them as leverage, you aren’t building relationships, you are accumulating IOUs. True relationships build social capital, and the second you use them as leverage, you destroy any relationship you worked so hard to create.

Instead of focusing on what leverage we have when we build relationships, why don’t we give without expecting, or ever planning on calling in an IOU. There is more than enough in creating trust and shared purpose with others.