“People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. The more principle-cantered we become, the more we develop an abundance mentality, the more we are genuinely happy for the successes, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. We believe their success adds to…rather than detracts from our lives.”
Stephen R. Covey
As we all know, the linchpins in the OSS industry have an abundance of knowledge. But interestingly, they are also linchpins because of their ability to pass on as much of that knowledge as possible to others so that they can increase the value of the connections that they can make.
Conversely, I’ve worked with CSPs where the “knowledge is power” ethos has been equated with a scarcity mentality and all knowledge is protectively kept from others.
When it comes to knowledge, within OSS in particular, I’m a strong believer in the abundance mentality. There is no limitation on knowledge. Nobody can possibly know everything about OSS and in fact there is always so much to learn, so bouncing ideas off your colleagues invariably expands their knowledge and yours.
Is your organisation’s culture one of abundance or scarcity?