'Start Something Local' with Jama

Action Opportunities Start something local this week: You don't need a budget, a board, a brand. Just one or two people who know good people, a room with good coffee, and the discipline to show up. Jama's playbook is available -- email her at [email protected] to request it. Try the problem-solving format: Gather five to ten people you trust across different industries. Give one person with a real problem 45 minutes of the group's focus. Watch what happens. The framework is simple, the trust, curiosity, and a little bit of structure is key. Share this episode with someone who's overwhelmed: Know someone who cares deeply but feels overwhelmed by the stakes or the scale? This episode is for them. Connect with Jama: Follow her work at jamaadams.com or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jamaadams. If something in this episode sparks an idea for your own corner of the world, please share. Follow People in Common: New episodes drop every other Tuesday through November. Each one is a different answer to the same question: What can WE do? Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. Key Takeaways ‍This episode is a little different. Jama's friend and Innovators community member Jon Bonanno turns the microphone around and interviews her -- and they end up going somewhere unexpected. Two years ago, Jama co-founded a monthly gathering in her hometown: entrepreneurs, builders, and community leaders, once a month, helping each other work through real problems. No budget. No pitch. Just a tight structure, a room full of generous people, and one rule: bring something you haven't figured out yet. One meeting became a community of 44. Twenty-two gatherings. Ten structured problem-solving sessions that changed real businesses, careers, and civic projects. A restaurant owner raised non-dilutive capital weeks before opening day using an idea the group generated in 45 minutes. A founder navigating a complex merger said a single session was "one of the most impactful things that shaped my trajectory as a leader." A group on the other side of the country adopted the model using Jama's documents, and held a successful first session without ever having seen it in person. The conversation covers how the community started, the "Help Me Solve This" framework, and what 25 years of coalition-building at the highest levels (Giving Pledge, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the launch of a national Responsible AI Framework) taught Jama about what actually moves people. The answer keeps coming back to the same thing: values, trust, and showing up for each other. Near the end, Jama says something she keeps coming back to. When enormous stakes make any effort feel inadequate, the antidote is not doing more. It is doing something local. That is where it all begins. And it is replicable anywhere -- including your town, this week, with people you already know.