You know what’s hot? Orlando in August. And that’s exactly where I was Monday and Tuesday this week. But it was totally worth it because Tuesday morning I was the kickoff keynote for a company meeting. But Monday night! Monday night I had the option to join everyone for an airboat adventure through the Everglades. Ummmm…YES PLEASE!!!! You know I wasn’t passing that up. So Monday evening I climbed onto a bus with a whole bunch of people I didn’t know for the 45-minute ride out to the Everglades. And because I am endlessly fascinated by how people connect, I started watching. The bus was pretty quiet. There were some conversations happening, but not a ton. People were on their phones. Looking out the window. Sitting with the people they already knew. I sat across from a gentleman named Brandon from North Dakota, and next to a super awesome guy named Bill who lives in San Diego but is originally from Massachusetts — so you know we got along GREAT. Then we got on the airboats. And for the next couple of hours we whipped through the Everglades, got sprayed with water, spotted alligators and bald eagles, screamed and laughed, took pictures, and basically had a freaking blast. Then we all got back on the bus. And THAT bus was different. Same people. Same seats. Same 45-minute drive. But the energy had completely changed. People were talking across the aisles. Showing each other pictures. Laughing. Talking about what we’d just seen. Conversations were happening everywhere. And I remember sitting there thinking…This. This is what a shared experience does. Nothing had fundamentally changed about the people on that bus. Except now we had something in common that we hadn’t had two hours earlier. We had a story. And this is one of the reasons I think we make networking WAY harder than it needs to be. We think connection starts with knowing the perfect thing to say. But sometimes the easiest way to connect with people is to go do something with them. Shared experiences do so much of the work for us. They give us something to talk about. Something to laugh about. Something to remember. Something to bring up the next time we see each other. And then the person who was basically a stranger on the ride there isn’t quite as much of a stranger on the ride home. So here’s my networking advice for today: Stop opting out of the fun stuff. Go to the dinner. Take the weird excursion. Get on the damn boat. Do the thing you could very easily convince yourself to skip because you’re tired or you have emails to answer or it would just be easier to go back to your hotel room or stay home. Stop opting out of excitement. Stop opting out of experiences. Because whether we realize it or not, every time we do…we might also be opting out of connection. And if you’re in the know and are wondering….the karaoke song choice this week was….Wagon Wheel
Cheers,
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Get in the Damn Boat 🚤
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