On Personal Connection

I was recently invited to speak at a webinar put on by an association that provides education for public schools across the state. The topic — harassment in the workplace. This is a topic that I lecture about often (in case you haven’t noticed, this has been a hot topic of late).

The webinar was fun and engaging — educational speaking is one of my favorite parts of the job. But the most enjoyable part of the day for me was the 90 minutes that I was able to spend at lunch with my co-presenter. I love talking with people, hearing stories, finding connections and common ground, and most importantly learning something. It’s one of the reasons I’m such a fan of podcasts — long form discussions can go in so many different directions, and I’ve almost never had a conversation or listened to an interview where I did not learn something new (for better or worse).

I have a tendency to get caught up in my own world. Between practicing law, running a business, having a young family and spending time on one of several hobbies, I often look up at the end of the week and realize that I’ve been in a bubble. I suspect I’m not alone in this.

These days, where much of our conversation occurs online, via social media and through email, real concrete conversations (consisting of more than a few sentences) are more valuable (and necessary) than ever. It can also be more difficult to achieve, which is why I’m making a concerted effort to improve in this area.