Meet One Interesting Person
I recently moved from Edmonton to Vancouver Island. My first day here I had an incredible moment of serendipity.
My wife and I had an hour to kill before meeting our landlord for our walkthrough, so we decided to hit up a cafe. We chose one at random that was within walking distance and made our way over. After getting our food, Lisa spotted a table on the patio outside so we decided to enjoy the sun. Sitting at the table beside us was Andrew Wilkinson, founder of Metalab.
Now you should know that I am a big fanboy of Metalab…they do great work for great clients and seem like they have an awesome culture. That being said, I was a little nervous to be in such close proximity to Andrew. Lisa suggested I go say hi, so I did. Turns out Andrew is super cool, and he suggested we grab a coffee sometime.
Andrew and I met up the next week and got to know each other a bit. I told him my design history and he told me his. We got onto the topic of my move and how I was settling in so far, and began discussing the process of meeting people in a new city. It was then that Andrew dropped a wisdom bomb on me.
He said that he tries to have lunch with someone different every day, and as part of their conversation he asks the person for one interesting person that he should meet.
This keeps the cycle going, and sets up future lunch dates with interesting people who can then help him meet even more interesting people.
He said he’s being doing this for about 5 years now, and as a result he knows a lot of people. Definitely helpful when you own multiple businesses like he does, but equally as helpful to anyone else. Lisa and I did this inadvertently when we knew we were going to be moving. When chatting with friends in Edmonton we had many occasions where they said “I know some awesome people in Victoria, I’ll introduce you guys by email so that you can meet up when you get there”.
We’ve been here for 2 full weeks now, and so far I’ve met up with 4 new people. It’s not quite a lunch/day yet, but I’m getting there. And so far the meetings have all been “accidental”, ie. friends of friends or randomly bumping into Andrew at that cafe. The plan now is to be more intentional in asking for interesting people to meet.
The important thing to remember is that for the most part people are nice and enjoy hanging out with other people. It’s not weird to be introduced to someone by email and then grab a coffee. It’s like a first date. If it goes well, you’ll meet up again. If it’s awkward…well there likely won’t be a second date. And that’s okay.
The best solutions are simple and elegant. This is one of those solutions.
So…who is one interesting person that I should meet?
