The unique motivation of outsiders to run local chapters

Photo by davisuko

At Sandbox, our local chapters are run by volunteers from the community that we call “ambassadors”. At some point I started to notice a curious pattern: Niamh Hughes, Irish, and myself, recently arrived from Switzerland, built our hub in NYC. Björn Lasse, German, started our San Francisco hub. William McQuillan, Irish, and Christian Busch, German, developed our London community, which was later run by Victoria Stoyanova from Bulgaria. We were all outsiders who had recently moved to a new place.

In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense. Outsiders have a genuine personal interest to build a local community, because they simply don’t have one yet. They arrive with open eyes and an open mind. They are building their own networks and reputations. And taking on an active role in a community gives them the perfect excuse to talk to people, to invite people, to connect people, to bring people together. It embeds them. It helps them belong in a new place. It opens up opportunities for them. And, in many instances, it made them some of the best connected people in town.

This is, of course, not always true. Many chapters are run by locals. But there is a unique drive to an outsider who is starting afresh. Similarly how introverts make good community weavers, there is something counterintuitive, but powerful about inviting outsiders to shape our local communities.

How does this resonate with your own experience?

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Thank you

Thank you to all the Sandbox ambassadors for all their work (both the locals and people from elsewhere ;-)

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