Adam Torres and David Homan discuss building communities.
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Show Notes:
What does it mean to “orchestrate” a connection? Not just the simple intro, but how it truly comes about to be effective? In this episode, Adam Torres and David Homan, CEO of Orchestrated Connecting, explore building a community and orchestrating connections.
About David Homan
David Homan connects people. His primary skill in life is learning about people, helping them reframe and pitch themselves better, and then creating long-lasting relationships based on the premise that for everyone for whom he connects the dots, they would be described as an action oriented, natural giver with high integrity.
About Orchestrated Connecting
Orchestrated Connecting is both an 1500 person private network of “action oriented givers” and a system of ethics and integrity around the world of connectivity. They amplify and bring together “Connectors” by purposely embracing diversity to share in relational value and work to position this as a valued asset in business, impact, and philanthropy.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so that I have David Holman on the line and he’s a CEO of Orchestrated Connecting.
David, welcome to the show. Thank you, Adam, for having me. All right, David. So a lot, lots of cover here today. I want to, of course, get into orchestrated connecting and the work that you’re doing there. And our overall topic. So building a large scale, purposeful community of impact. So great stuff there.
And I guess let’s get us kicked off here. I mean, how did you get obsessed or on this mission of building large scale communities? Like, where did that all begin for you? So it’s all this, this fortuitous accident. I’m a classical composer, and no one’s ever met a living classical composer. I was running a global charity.
And then everywhere I went, every conference, every group and family office, NextGen, Impact, the United Nations, I would constantly find myself introducing people who I thought knew each other. And then I realized that the problem was, first and foremost, they The strength of connection I had with each of those people, they didn’t have with each other, and that even more than that, they were what we now would call connectors, super connectors, community builders, people with the same relationship value.
And I realized that if you’re going to do this, right, you have to connect the people who connect everyone else and create value for them 1st, because that creates true ripple effects of change. So you’re connecting connectors. Am I understanding that? Correct? Correct. I am connecting the people who every moment of every day find value in helping other people and then come home at night and wonder where are the connections for them because the relationship value that we are all giving out in this world isn’t valued the same way that we value it.
Therefore, value the people who value relationships the most. You can change the way that really purposeful connectivity impact happen in this world by building trust among the real trusted connectors. And so, I mean, that’s a lot of weight that you have on your shoulders, connecting connectors and other influencers, like how many off the top of your head, how many people do you talk to a week?
Cause you’re the real deal. I know you talk to a lot of people. How many people? Roughly. My average is 40 to 55 people a week. I run a network of 15, 1, 532 people doing events in the United States, now Canada, and soon to be Europe. But my whole point, and this is an efficiency model that I’ve objectively failed in, it was to connect the people so I could get out of the way.
But when I do that, these connectors. And these connections have profound ripple effects that extend for years and years, friendships, businesses, investments, and politics on a global scale where I often can’t believe Adam, the type of people I’m connecting. But when two people say my passion is in mental health or specifically bipolar, it would be, you know, I have to connect them.
I have to show them that there’s a shared purpose because otherwise I’m, Creating a negative in terms of the impact that I could otherwise to fill. long have you been doing this? Like connecting people like this, whether it’s formally through your company orchestrated connecting or just in general, where you were, you always that person.
So, I’ve been doing this 8 and a half years officially. And I’ve been doing this informally since I was 12, I got sick some disease we never were able to diagnose, but I recovered. And when I got back into the, you know, wonderful middle school, social connections and drama, I never felt like I fit in. I never felt I fit in anywhere.
And I went through high school, college, into New York. I never felt I fit in anywhere. But when somebody in the who was a sports friend of mine was wanting to do something around executive leadership and climate change, I would connect them until I finally realized what I’d been doing all along. Was the beautiful art and the sophisticated way of bringing people from diverse networks into value with each other.
I just finally realized it was, it was a skill set that wasn’t just mine. It was one that was, although supremely undervalued actually incredibly pervasive across the globe. And by naming it, by talking about what that value is, I built my purposeful community called Orchestrated Connecting. I mean, as you were doing this, it may or may not have, by the way, but I’ve seen your branding, I’ve seen your website and knew you were a composer and I see you in front of the, you know, beautiful piano and everything else.
Did music play a role in this at all? I’m just throwing that out there. It may or may not have. I was just curious when I saw your branding, everything like, wow, this is different. It’s different, and it wasn’t just to shamelessly plug myself as a composer, because even probably thousands of my networks could know it.
Hold on one second, I get that, and that’s what threw me off, actually, and I just wanted to bring that out to our audience, is when I saw it, it wasn’t to shamelessly promote, I’m like, wait a minute, this guy is authentic. So that’s what threw me off, because I’ve seen, I’m not gonna say gimmicky. I don’t think you’re gimmicky at all.
I just mean like I’ve seen people who maybe use one of their attributes and try to cross over something else where you’re like Kind of it doesn’t really connect but for you it did so i’m like man. How did music play into this? Go ahead. Please. I just wanted to I wanted to give you kudos. I know I could know I appreciate your recognizance I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you a quick thing to get to the answer that’s a little bit around, but you know, my, my nine year old asked me the other day, she’s like, how much money did you make it as a composer this quarter?
I was impressed she knew the word quarter, but I guess she wasn’t to me when I’m on call, you know, and I was like, you know, how old is she roughly? She’s nine. Oh, wow. Talking about that’s amazing. I mean, she hears me talk about it. Kids learn more for when you’re not parenting than when you are parenting and any parent worth their salt finally realizes the example you said is not when you’re doing good, but when your kids are watching you.
And so I said to Eva, I was like, think I made like 12. 77 this quarter. She’s like, that’s amazing. I mean, for a 12 year old, that’s like ice cream. So therefore it’s amazing with my nine year old. And then I realized like, you know, I’d had. 7, 800 people listen to my music and stream it, but the cost mechanism is I only make 17.
So you think massive reach thousands of people. This is what’s happened in my career for 25 years, but it’s something in between a career and a hobby. So the reason that my true calling isn’t just writing music, it’s, orchestrated connecting is, and this is what I say all the time, the way that I find resonance with connecting people Is the same way I find it in writing a piece of music that gives at least one person, if not more, a sense of peace and passion and purpose.
If you can hit at that core and you can figure out the ways that people should interact, then what you do in terms of orchestrating a connection is the same sophistication as having a melody, having some cool harmony, and then suddenly you see it as a symphony and all the different parts sound grander.
If I can do this right with connecting. Then it’s the exact same thing you’re building through purposely stacking and layering people who should bring together into something greater as a whole. And that’s what writing a symphony is. It’s taking something and making it massive and bombastic with 100, 130 people coming together to play the same thing all in a slightly different way.
Where do you find, I mean, you were doing it intuitively, like you mentioned, since you were 12 and you’ve been doing it professionally, you know, eight years or so where do you find, like, and I asked this question specifically because there’s a lot of people out there that now, now community is a buzzword and something everybody’s trying to do, or many people are trying to do, which I think is great.
And so I always, when I, when I see somebody that even has natural skills as a, as a community builder, like yourself, which I did not, it took me a lot of years to learn how to. Bring together a community. And I’m not, and I’m still learning every day. Where do you find that, you know, let’s see community builders or would be community builders many times go wrong and why they don’t maybe get as much traction as, as your, as, as what you’ve been able to do.
So, the fact you asked that question makes me think you’re actually extremely sophisticated as a community builder because having humility and curiosity while having the substance that you have, even just with this podcast, like, demonstrates that you are you are in the a game of that. So I just want to pause and recognize that because most people talk about the power of community as the number of people they bring together.
They use those buzzwords about community. I live by the value system, which I create. So, to be part of my community, you have to be vetted and recommended by me or others as an action oriented organization. Natural giver that I, or somebody else would leave my children with, and that is the code. I don’t care.
Prowess network success title. I want you to be an extremely busy human being. Somebody who has had the generosity of spirit and somebody with really high integrity and so most community builders say, well, listen, let’s get everyone in San Francisco and together. No, everyone is a climate change. We see together, like, all these things where there’s a express purpose that.
It might be specific, but it’s superficial because what community is, is a group of people who can elevate each other with a purpose when they find a sense of belonging they found nowhere else. And so, for me, you have to name that sense that purpose that resident, so to speak, and you have to do 2 things with this.
And this is my recipe with this. You have to be unapologetic for the type of person you want in your community and the ethics and the rules by which they should. Lean in to be part of that group. And with that, you have to embrace, I would say, true diversity and a system of risk by which if you are not embodying those principles, you shouldn’t be part of that community, or you can be removed from it, even if you’re paying to be part of it.
And most people try to assemble people, you know, everyone wants to have the birthday party where everyone shows up. I’d rather have that party where the 10 people who did were the right 10 people, than 100 people who came and the right 10 people were exhausted by the end of the night. So I set up a very stringent rule system on my network.
I call it my mantra. Everyone to be in my community has to ask me for help first, which to ask a giver for help. It’s really hard. Most people go, what can I do for you? And my point is, that’s not how this is supposed to be. I want my network to be people asking with purposeful intent around what they’re doing and to be unafraid to state their values and what they need.
In a way that aligns to greater purpose. So just the example of what orchestrated is, but all communities that do this well, and there are many in my networks that do they have this recipe of elevating people together, not just collecting people together. It’s a great transition the way that you bring this up.
I want to talk about, so we’ve talked about one, one side of the equation, which is the, you know, the community builders and the people launching them and like some of the, you know, the keys there. What makes a good member of the community specifically in orchestrated connecting or, or otherwise?
Like what makes a good member of a community? Cause I feel like that’s a skill set as well. There’s a couple of different variations of what membership means for me. Membership is 1 specific thing. Somebody who leans in with the intent to take action and help other people showing up at something, paying for something, hosting something.
It’s really nice. Like, that doesn’t move the world forward, and we live in a pretty troubled world, to say the least. So, I want action. That’s what makes a member, especially in my network, unique. Because they will call me up and say, I just connected so and so with the Dalai Lama on this project. And it actually happened.
You know, and that’s because one person asked, and one person had the match. So the structure of my community is actually getting everyone to ask, and to match those asks together. So, nothing is a favor. Everything is structured to amplify and accelerate, accelerate change in other networks. It’s different.
Yes. Go ahead. Yeah, no, no, no. Go ahead. Another network is a different. Go ahead. I’ll say another network. That’s different. Right? Like, sometimes it’s about belonging. Sometimes it’s about sharing that purpose. Like, you know, I have friends who 1 friend in particular, like, just brings men together. Who have experienced toxic masculinity in their workplace and want to work to be better men, so they can help support women and people of color who, by nature of our implicit bias, and especially the corporate world are unintentionally adding to that.
And it’s a different network. There’s a, there’s so many variations. Mine is just 1 of them, but it all goes back to purposeful intent or not. And a real member. Embodies and acts on that purposeful intent. Is there, is there a problem? And especially I shouldn’t say a problem, but is there a challenge in the way that people ask for help?
Especially in your community, because this is, as you said earlier, like, you know, one of the first things they have to do is ask for help. And that’s not always an easy thing to do. Like what’s the challenge in that piece of it? That’s tricky sometimes. It’s tricky, but my goal has been to figure out the hack, to get people comfortable, and to have something that works not just in New York or San Francisco, but my network works this way in London, in Perth, Australia, in Johannesburg, in many different places.
So what I call this is called the impact app, and this was my philosophy when I was running a global charity to get a whole bunch of incredible people who were absolutely sure that if everyone embraced their idea, the world would be better to align to a greater purpose. And so what I ask everyone in my network to ask for with this intent, this impact ask is, you first talk about your passion, the why of what you’re doing.
And then to paint the picture of what’s amplified when that why happen. And from that, people can get a sense of whether they fit into that vision, their, their why, their passion fits into that other larger passion as well. And then in my network, I get. People to be extremely specific in the, in the people that they need to talk to.
And so, if you are somebody who’s trying to change the face of, I’ll give you an example of an incredible friend of mine named coju and non, who’s the late coffee and on some secretary general of the U. N. So Kojo said to me, one of my passions is to redefine how everyone sees the African continent. I believe that if we can bring together everyone supporting the art scene, the music scene in particular, and we can showcase what Africa actually looks like as a collective of many incredible nations, Once we change the image of Africa from 20 years ago, through arts and culture, we will have much more investment, co investment, and partnership in what is great for African youth, as opposed to how to, you know, how to take the, what people think is one country, often mistakenly, especially in America.
And not see the diversity and the potential for how Africa will help the world. And so, like, that’s an example of an impact app. It immediately triggers me to think of people invested in different parts of Africa, people of African descent in family office and finance and venture and other places where their success should be collectively paired with him.
But it also gives you a reason to ask for something that’s greater than just what one person can do. And therefore that alignment becomes systemic in a ripple of connection, which is why I call this an impact ask, not just an ask. So you mentioned you know, over 1500 community members, large community that’s Especially with the hands on approach that you’re taking, so it’s not scaling for the sake of scaling or for numbers, I mean, it’s just a whole different and hopefully my audience gets that gets that impression already, as I, as I clearly understand what’s your vision for this?
What’s your vision for this thing going forward? The end result, if I can do this right, which includes currently working on a book to be launched this fall raising for a startup to solve the problems around connector technology, every part of this is to make relationship value valued it technically by doing so launches a connector economy.
It creates a code of ethics around connecting, but the most important thing it does, because this isn’t just about like access to the Dalai Lama or a friend whose dad ran the UN, like, I believe that purposeful community and the rise of communities are the way we create systemic change in this world. By putting people from diverse backgrounds together, we can actually tackle the problems that seem to be based on history repeating and repeating itself.
And it’s because the. Power and how power is structured in this world is all sitting in different castles. And if we can create a currency through this, that is now becomes a current of change, like my dream goal is to make connection so valued that how we build relationships, how we maintain them and how we see the world work because of them, actually become something that’s not just respected and sought after.
But now, measured for the demonstrable change we have in it, we just live in a world where too many people take, too many people need things, and then in the end, the world doesn’t change the way we need it to. And I think that empowering connectors, super connectors, community organizers, heads of PTA, all these groups more collectively together creates that change.
I’ve seen it now for eight and a half years. It just needs to get to a scale greater than my ability alone. And that’s part of my purpose in the thought leadership and leading first as a giver of others. Hmm. That’s great. Well, David, I just have to say, it has been great having you on the show. I know we’ve been working together and you’ve been a gracious connector for mission matters, helping us curate the right types of guests and individuals that we’d want on the show.
So, I mean, I could speak firsthand. I’ve seen some of the guests come through that you’ve introduced to our platform, which we’re appreciative for, who are, they’re the right people. So that, been my experience with your, your organization up to this point. But that being said, I know many that are listening, maybe they, they’re hearing some things that resonate with them or they’re learning more about what a community of being a community like orchestrated connecting is about.
And I know we just scratched the surface here. So that being said, if somebody wants to learn more, how do they follow up? How do they connect? So I made the 1st part easy learning more at orchestrated connecting dot com. I have articles. I have videos. I try to put all of this out there. It’s not protected.
I want people to find purpose and to support each other. The network itself, you know, if somebody wants to reach out, if they think they’re a connector, I mean, my emails on the website, I want purposeful, intentional connection. If people listen to this, they love what you do. First thing I want them to do is not reach out to me.
I want them to reach out to you and say, Adam, I heard your podcast with David. Thank you for it. I’m going to reach out to him now. Cause I want that gratitude first extended to your you know, your listeners, and then from that people are welcome to introduce themselves to me. I’m a active dad with a massive network, but I care about changing the world through the right people, meeting each other, and my goal is to meet all connectors and then get out of the way.
And build an ecosystem that supports everyone in this, not just me. Fantastic. Well for the audience, we’ll put the website and all that good stuff in the show notes, so you can just click on the links and head right on over. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with us and you haven’t hit that subscribe button yet.
I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Come on, hit the subscribe button. We got to get that push notification. We have many more mission based individuals coming up on the line. We don’t want you to miss any of that. And if you’re a long term listener and you haven’t left us a review yet, Hey, we sure do appreciate reviews.
That’s what helps the show grow. That’s what helps us get noticed as well. And us fulfill our mission of amplifying stories for our guests in our community as well. So definitely leave that review. David, again, so much fun having you in the show until the next time. Thanks so much. Great. Thank you, Adam.
