Brokers, mediators, facilitators or the quintessential Dalal is a mildly valued negative notion as we presume that systems work as we are rational human actors with no force field to navigate. One of the greatest skills in life is to convince people that helping us is helping themselves or the art of the sale which consultants often preach. We need to convince stakeholders at all levels from the home boss to the work boss.
In low trust societies the figure of the man Friday who will negotiate the quotidian for you so that you can do work normally is a superpower. Countries like Singapore with seamless systems have eliminated the need for such actors, although SME business consultants do exist.
Reminds me of Prof Lisa Björkman ‘s Bombay Brokers, an ethnographic work which shows the role which everyday intermediary actors play.
Change Thinker 