Why I Meet with Strangers

I meet with a lot of people. I often meet with people that I know, but I really try to set up meetings with people that I have had little personal interaction with. People that I may have read about or heard someone else talk about or ran into by chance while waiting in line to buy food.

Usually people feel honored and surprised that you are at all interested in meeting with them. Because you don’t really know each other at all, it seems that you must have something rather important to say if you went through the trouble of seeking them out for this meeting. I like to believe that what I like to talk about is a collection of rather important things to say. I like to talk about exciting things. Big things. Things that I hope will eventually change the world. The forces that I think are currently changing the world.

I really like these meetings because the worst case scenario is that I get to think out loud in front of someone that feels compelled to politely listen. While merely organizing your thoughts into coherent vocalizations is immensely valuable, it is not the reason that I like to meet with people that I don’t know. Not even remotely. I meet with these people because there is a chance that I will learn something that will change the way I understand the world. That I will gain an insight into myself or my passions or my work that will alter how I see it and how I approach things in the future. This certainly doesn’t happen at every meeting, every month, or even every couple of months, but it does happen. It has happened to me. Chance meetings with strangers has totally altered how I understand several things about the world.

I take meetings with strangers not for the 98% that I get say my thoughts out loud, but for the remainder that truly change my perspective. I take these meetings for a chance for an enlightenment of sorts. By meeting with people that I don’t know, I’m banking on the black swan event of a life-changing event occurring. As I take more and more meetings, the probability that this one will be the one that changes how I think approaches 1, which is a delightful thought. With enough attempts, I cannot fail. I cannot avoid having my mind changed.