I recently returned from The Gathering of Leaders, an event by and for social entrepreneurs hosted by New Profit Inc. It is truly an honor to be included in this event. For three days, from 7:30am - 10pm, I was in the presence of really amazing agents of change. Folks from CityYear, CitizenSchools, YearUp, Prison Entrepreneurship Program, RARE, Echoing Green and 1Sky were among the 160 people gathered in sunny Miami.

It was an inspiring and exhausting few days, filled with true action-tank type of interactions as we worked together to make social enterprise and social entrepreneurship into a recognized, appreciated and adopted field of work.

The roster of speakers and panelists was inspiring and the stories awesome. In fact, it is my intention to conduct and post a few interviews with some of the remarkable changemakers that I met. But perhaps the best part of the Gathering was to be engaged in a community of kindred spirits — people whose personal missions include making the world a better place. Every conversation compelled me to want to work harder, try harder and be better. Around so many accomplished individuals, it’s easy to feel insignificant or lost. But this was a community of people where everyone friendly and everyone was game. It was so refreshing

One interesting thing I learned from the Gathering is about group dynamics. I observed that in every group, there are “the seekers” and “the sought after”. Those who are sought after, like Greg Dees from Duke or David Gergen from Harvard, are the gurus of the field and enjoy a certain amount of celebrity status at conferences like these. These “sought afters” are able to focus all of their energies on engaging in conversation because they are not using any of their energies to find people to speak with; others “seek them out.”

It was such an interesting perspective to gain. I was able to objectively see how much I have grown in the field. The measure? My “seeker to sought after” ratio. As a sophomore attendee, I knew more people this year, knew more organizations this year and had more to say this year. It made me a happier, more engaged, and more “sought after” participant. It also taught me that in my field of work — that of social change — the balance of power between the “seekers” and the “sought after” sits at a really good equilibrium. There is a general understanding that all of us are equal, that we’re all doing great work, and that we can all benefit from the knowledge of others, no matter their level of expertise.

So the question is, what is your seeker to sought after ratio? Do you “seek” 100 times for every 1 time you are “sought after”? A high seeker/sought after ratio like 100:1 tells you that you have an opportunity to become better known in your field, your work, or your community. A low ratio, 1:100 like that of David Gergen, who seeks 1 person for every 100 hundred that seek him out, means that as an expert in your field, you might not be surrounding yourself with people who can positively contribute to your continued learning and personal growth. I posit that the right ratio is 50:50. Half the time you are being sought. Half the time you are seeking. This way, you are constantly helping others with your knowledge and learning from others and their knowledge. So that’s what I’m going to focus on for a while. How to bring my seeker/sought after ratio into balance.

So what’s your seeker/sought after ratio? How does it make you feel? Do you want to increase it? How can you increase it? I look forward to your comments and answers.