I’ve been thinking about something that was mentioned at this past weekend’s CreativeCamp event.

One of the attendants was telling me about how he recently returned to Philly and noticed an attitude issue. He said something to the effect of,

“I thought New York was stuck up, and really Philly is just bad, maybe even worse.”

And really, he’s right. Its not so much of the NYC/”We’re better than you” attitude, its the Philadelphia/”We’re Philly and we don’t need or want your help”.

So that, to me, screams pride.

Surely, Philadelphians are some of the most proud people in the country. I mean, look at our sports fans. Notoriously some of the most violent, verbal, and aggressive sports fans in the country…and not like they’ve earned it, right? Whens the last time one of this fine city’s sports teams won a sports championship? I digress, and refuse to speak about something that I admittedly know absolutely nothing about (sports).

So this pride that we have, is it what’s hurting us? Philadelphia is the home to many, many incredibly smart and talented people from every industry on the planet.

But so few of those people reached their success alone. Most of them, like so many other successful individuals, leaned on the shoulders of peers and mentors. They overcame their pride, and did the hardest thing in the world for a proud person: they asked for help.

This is where I see an opportunity for coworking to break down a huge barrior in our local industry.

We shouldnt have to worry about being “not New York”. A venue like coworking not only enables, but encourages collaboration. Working as a team to produce that which couldnt exist as individuals. I don’t know about you, but that’s something that I can’t wait to be a part of.

swallow your pride, philly independents.

dare to be great, with us. the founders of this country did it, thats enough inspiration for me.