Honoring individuals, communities and cultures

For the past few months, my email signature has been (and still is) the African proverb "To go quickly go alone, to go far go together". Though I read it everyday - and share it willy nilly with the rest of the world - I have not thought about "going far together" and social innovation.

As I think of this proverb today, I think about the importance of honoring individuals, communities and cultures in social innovation. The usual / dictonary definations of honor focus more on public regard and esteem, with less attention paid to meanings to do with showing respect for or having ethical conduct towards something/someone. Without this how can social innovation work? Without understanding where a person is from historically, culturally, financially etc, how can we learn from each other? Without learning from each other, how can we teach each other? Without learning and teaching, how can we develop valuable, relevant, cost-effective and sustainable innovations to meet social challenges at scale?

So today I think of not just listening but hearing the voice of the individuals and accepting and honoring what I see as irrational peculiarities knowing that they likely see me and/or my ideas as an irrational peculiarity. I think of honoring the individuals, communities and cultures as we work to "go far together".