In a world obsessed with individual success and 'fix-it-all' technology, we forget that even the most brilliant solutions fail if society is fractured. By shifting from an 'I' to a 'We' mindset, we do more than improve mental health; we build a strategic shield that protects our democracy, economy, and planet from instability.

What has kept me busy: why doing things together makes us healthy and resilient

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Over the last few weeks, a thought has been brewing in my mind, an undercurrent I felt strongly during the PYM Impact Days in April and throughout the conversations and activities that followed.

Humans are not meant to live, learn, invest, or solve problems in isolation. While many societal and planetary challenges require technical and financial solutions, those solutions only matter if they are embraced by a cohesive society. Whether we are discussing capital allocation, organizational design, technology, or culture, our collective future depends on our ability to connect with the other and move from an individual “I” toward a shared “We.”

For PYM private wealth holders, this feels especially relevant. Financial means do not exist outside society; it shapes it. The question is no longer only how capital performs financially, but whether it strengthens the systems, relationships, and resilience that allow societies to thrive in the first place.

Social cohesion: the undercurrent of the PYM Impact Days

During the PYM Impact Days, this theme was softly shaping conversations. In two impassioned talks private investor Liet van Beuningen and ex-NATO comms strategist Eleonora Russell, drew lines between giving parts of oneself to the collective. This act of giving strengthens a society to the point where it can even deter external adversaries.

Eleonora Russell, in her talk "Fighting for the 'We' in a World of 'Me'," brought a sharp, geopolitical edge to this discussion. She argued that our safety is not just a government problem or a military one; our greatest vulnerability is the mindset that we are isolated individuals. Drawing from her work on deterrence, she emphasized that a society with high social cohesion is fundamentally more difficult to destabilize, wherever in the world. When we invest in the "we”, by contributing wealth, time, network, or knowledge to common goals, we aren't just doing good; we are building a whole-of-society resilience that protects our democracy and our future.

As Liet van Beuningen put it in her Field Investing white paper, investing is not just about capital injections, it is about supporting the ecosystem as a whole. Strong social cohesion means we can:

• Navigate transitions to new economies with stability.
• Absorb individual challenges within smaller, supportive groups.
• Change behaviors collectively to create profound effects on our planet.

The inner work: staying open to others

Change also requires inner work. In a workshop with Prof. Peter Senge on the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), we explored how our own patterns and assumptions often prevent us from truly seeing one another.

At one point, a live violin performance sparked completely different interpretations across the audience. The exercise was a simple but powerful reminder: our truth is always partial.

For leaders and private investors alike, staying open to other perspectives is not a “soft” skill. It is a practical necessity for navigating complexity. In polarized environments, rigidity weakens systems. Openness strengthens them.

The importance of finding your circle of club

Last week, I attended the premiere of the Cinetree Foundation documentary Samen (Together, add English subtitles in settings).  It beautifully illustrates how social cohesion is built through small, everyday acts of participation: joining a sports club, volunteering, tending a community garden, gathering around shared interests, or simply showing up consistently for others.

Afterwards, we had an interesting discussion about whether work itself is one of those clubs or that anyone who only has work should expand beyond. 

The documentary’s message is both simple and profound: belonging matters. Being part of a group is essential not only for individual mental health, but also for societal resilience. These communities create informal safety nets that reduce pressure on overstretched systems such as healthcare and social services by giving people connection, recognition, and support.

It reminded me that many of us are ultimately searching for some version of that “club” — a place where we feel seen, useful, and connected to something larger than ourselves.

Practical collectives: Klai and the Electric Union

Two recent examples stood out to me as demonstrations of how “doing things together” increases resilience on the European continent:

Klai, founded by Mark Vletter, Jantine Doornbos, and Steven Buurma, is building an open-source, privacy-first AI platform through a steward-owned structure. Rather than depending entirely on closed systems from large technology companies, Klai is creating a European alternative rooted in openness, collaboration, and data sovereignty. It is a reminder that technological resilience is strongest when built collectively.

The second example is the idea of the EU as an Electric Union, put forward by Olivia Lazard and the Norrsken Foundation. Europe’s energy transition is often slowed by fragmentation and national silos. A more unified, pan-European energy grid could create shared resilience against energy shocks while accelerating the transition toward a fossil-free economy.

Again, the pattern is the same: interconnected systems are more resilient than isolated ones.

Conclusion: togetherness as a strategy

The common thread running through all these experiences is clear to me now: social cohesion is not a side effect of healthy societies, it is the foundation of them.

And for PYM private wealth holders, this creates both an opportunity and a responsibility.

Capital can either reinforce fragmentation and individualism, or it can help strengthen the connective tissue that allows societies to adapt, collaborate, and endure. The willingness to move beyond business as usual, to stay open to other interpretations, and to invest not only in markets but also in relationships, ecosystems, and communities, may ultimately be one of the most important forms of resilience we can build.

Because in the end, resilience is rarely created alone. It is built together.