When I have children or students someday, one of the things I'll teach them is Basic Diplomacy and Trade. They will learn that diplomacy and trade does not only exist between nations, it can also flourish between friends, families, and neighborhoods, and that they do not need to be in a position of power to do that.
The needs of humans are essentially the same, yet the amount of resources and the variety of skills the person can have are highly different. The stark differences between skills, resources, and manpower makes it a fertile ground for trading to flourish. And the best way to maximize the benefits of trading is through diplomatic negotiations and alliances.
An individual does not need to be the president or king of a country to conduct diplomacy. Even a lowly beggar can reap the benefits of diplomacy. They key is knowing your needs and their needs, as well as the resources and skills you are willing to give. One does not need to be a perfect speaker to be diplomatic, they simply have to be gentle and understanding, while being steadfast and assertive.
The first thing to do is to know yourself and the people around you. I'll make sure that my students have enough courage and skill to properly communicate with everyone around them, including the authorities and enemies that watch over them. During the first week, they have already befriended the people who are living with them. Before the end of the first month, they have already known their neighbors and established means of contact with them. And within three months, they have already befriended the authorities, signed beneficial deals, and established trading routes.
The most basic resource that is always constantly high in demand is quality information. This comes in the form of news, opportunities, and technical knowledge. Everyone has some form of quality information with them, there is always something to learn from every person. Thus, even the most broke person in the world has something they can trade with. Furthermore, information does not diminish when shared, it actually grows more when it is shared with others, making it one of the best resources in the world.
If you are someone who's living with your parents, you must ensure that your parents happily shares you their experience and knowledge they learn after living for decades. If you're with your siblings, you must ensure that you know their talents and interests well enough to make mutually beneficial exchange with them. As for your friends, you must always tell them what you need and what you're looking for, so that they will share you the opportunities they found. If the people around you seems grumpy or psychologically disturbed, maybe you can start by sharing helpful information to them first so they'll naturally reciprocate on their own.
Aside from information, it's possible to exchange goods and services with other people. While you have probably already tried this with your friends, you should also try this with your neighbors as well. After all, they're the nearest to your location. When dealing with cautious people, it's important to take the initiative first and be generous. If you want them to invite you to their birthday parties, invite them to yours first. If you want to explore their house, invite them to your house for some tea first. When you're about to throw something you don't need, ask them first if they would like to have it.
Back in my day, people used to create alliances by marrying their children to each other. These days that practice is very rare and generally discouraged. Still, if you're already friends with your neighbors, you can send your kids to them and let them play with their kids. This will create more opportunities for interaction and trade. Eventually, you'll be close enough with them that you can stay in their house to enjoy their A/C and Wi-Fi for free, so you'll be very happy that you did some diplomacy in the first place.
Wherever I go in the internet, most people would say that taking to strangers are dangerous and that it's better to be alone. I think in most countries, the chances of strangers being bad and want to do criminal acts to you are just around 1%. For terrible countries, it's probably around 10-30%. Surely enough, it is the negative bias that makes people avoid social interactions aside from those they already know. While they may think this is a good thing, in my ideal society, this is terrible, something akin to social sickness that makes people more isolated, stagnant, and cynical. If this kind of thing happens to one of the families in my future city, I'll immediately send in some family therapist to help them. Isolation is for only those who stand at the top like me, it's not for normal people.
Personally, I think it's a good thing if you discover that your neighbor is actually a criminal. This means that you'll be able to avoid them more and report them to the authorities. Although you might get rekt and kidnapped in their basement before that happens, at least the people around you would notice that you're gone, and become more suspicious of your neighbors. Thus, it will be easier to find the bad guys if people do interact with each other more often, and therefore make it easier to catch them — increasing the overall happiness in the society.
Don't just stop at your neighbors. Try traveling around your city and make alliances with rich households as well. You'll know that they're rich if they have a fancy house that is at least two stories tall. I speculate that households with open rooftops and large balconies are more open-minded and willing to trade with other people. One may think that rich people doesn't have any reason to trade with others who are less rich than them, this is incorrect. I've recently read about comparative relative advantage and learned that rich nations make a lot of profit by trading with poorer nations. This applies to neighborhood trading as well.
Even if the rich household does everything better than you can ever do, it cannot do everything all at once. If you have something they want, even if they can get it faster, you would both profit by trading because their time is worth more than yours, such that they can focus in doing more productive stuff they like while they have to pay you less than the time it would cost them to make the other things, but for you, their payment they give is greater than what the worth of your time. Thus, both of you thrives in mutual benefit.
Does that mean you'll have to work for them? Not necessarily, you only have trade with them if you want. Like what you have previously learned, there is always something you know that the other person don't. If you can leverage this information gap to your advantage, you can make a good trade with anyone. People are born incomplete, they cannot complete themselves alone. Even if other people are worse than them, if they complete a part of them, then they consider it as highly beneficial. This universe is full of things and life, big and small, each one plays an irreplaceable part.
Indeed, communication is the very essence of diplomacy. You don't need any fancy or abundant resources to trade and negotiate, though they would help if you do. As long as you can communicate and understand well, that is valuable enough, that is worth more than any other resources you can provide. After all, a great communicator can fulfill any person's socio-emotional and mento-spiritual needs — and fulfilling these needs are so much more difficult than finding food to eat and water to drink. Just like any other person would someday realize — a great friend is worth more than any material resources can provide.
Then, if I can only teach my future children and students to be a great friend to anyone and everyone, there's no doubt that they'll be one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world.
"Those with courage can see treasures everywhere, yet those who live in fear won't find treasures wherever they look, they can only wait like a livestock to slaughter."