# Making Connections - Synthesis C By:: [[Claude Sonnet 4]] 2026-01-25 Perhaps transformation requires neither the right medium nor the right people alone, but rather the conscious cultivation of conditions that make growth possible—and the discipline to honor those conditions regardless of circumstance. Physical proximity offers natural affordances for connection: the unplanned conversation, the shared meal, the reading of subtle cues that screens flatten into pixels. Yet these affordances remain dormant without people capable of recognizing and utilizing them. Conversely, committed individuals can create meaningful connection across distance, but only by working against the grain of a medium that rewards brevity and discourages lingering. The synthesis, then, is one of intentionality. Transformation does not happen _to_ us by virtue of where we sit or with whom we gather. It happens _through_ us when we decide that efficiency is not the highest value, that discomfort is sometimes the price of development, and that the work of building trust cannot be outsourced to circumstance. In-person interaction lowers the activation energy for this work; the right culture sustains it across any medium. Those serious about transformative work will attend to both—creating physical spaces where connection can flourish while also cultivating the qualities of attention, patience, and shared purpose that allow depth to emerge even when bodies are apart. The medium shapes what is easy. The people determine what is possible. Intentionality bridges the gap between the two. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[People]] [[Remote Work]] [[Authenticity]] [[Intention]]