Decentralization promises a world where power isn’t hoarded but shared—where communities thrive because everyone has a stake. Yet, most governance systems, even in progressive spaces, still lean on rigid hierarchies or narrow metrics: who did the most tasks, who holds the most tokens, who’s loudest in the room. What if the key to true decentralization isn’t just distributing ownership, but recognizing the full spectrum of what people bring—creativity, care, connection, and quiet resilience? This is the power of social recognition: a shift from top-down control to peer-driven value, where governance mirrors the living, breathing pulse of a community.