This has been a week of connecting with long time friends, colleagues and business partners. I’ve spoiled myself a little by having more than my once a week allotment of “personal” lunch dates. Since I’m in the fortunate position of having a few committed clients, I am able to take a tiny short breather on devoting 100% of my energy to business development. I still network on a daily basis, but it’s not the focus of my every waking moment – this week!

While I had not planned it, the focus of my week seems to have happily centered on stimulating conversations – with friends, colleagues and clients. I just left lunch with a former colleague – his contact name in my contact list is Bizio – a hold-over nickname from our old team – and I could not tell you why we called him that. I haven’t seen Biz in 5 or 6 years – but the time and distance didn’t matter – we picked up right where we left off. Lunch conversation started with the usual drill – family, kids, friends, jobs…. but then quickly moved to the fun stuff – swapping ideas about current economic, political and social trends.  While we tried to stay out of Doomsday “Hell in a hand basket” territory, of course, it drifted there. And Biz – thanks for the tip on the “Pitchforks are coming”  Ted Talk. It is on my watch list now! The point is – No matter how long it’s been since you’ve connected with a bright mind – give yourself the gift of time, some good food and a great sunny day on a patio  – and you’ll remember why you enjoyed working together so much and what a treasured time it was. Note to self – remember this when you find someone cool to work with – take the time to talk about non-work stuff. Stuff that is Creative. Stuff that isn’t Real.  Stuff that’s Important.

Yesterday – I had the great pleasure of two stimulating conversations – the first with a client and and the other with a recent former colleague. Both absolute leaders in their own right. Both on the cusp of a transition – different directions, but both about to make some kind of leap into a new world.  My client meeting was one of my favorite kind. We passed ideas back and forth, building on each other’s energy until we hit the “aha” moment – exactly where I needed this client to get to. I needed to hear his voice – his passion, his point of view – so that we could turn that into a series of articles. I had an image for the first hour of the 2 hour meeting – we carefully arranged kindling and tinder in a fire ring, then thoughtfully inserted accelerants. Then in the last 15 minutes, the match was lit and the fire went up.  Presto – we had it!  That’s my Raison D’etre – my reason for being. Working with people who are willing to push things to the edge, provoke change and diversity in action.  Nothing short of excellence.

Follow that with a lunch with a former colleague; in fact she was a senior leader whom I had the honor to serve several times in my tenure at the big blue box. She was a leader that demanded the best and the most out of the people who worked with her. Without this level of expectation, I would not have been able to make the impact that I did on the company, my team, or my career. So now, it’s a true treat to shed the personas of our old corporate roles. Now just colleagues who could both offer the other wisdom and inspiration. The conversation meandered between history and family, careers and mindsets, resumes, experiences and aspirations. Our conversation was a great reinforcement of my decision to make the leap to a new “Career”, and happy to see her enjoying her own journey towards finding what’s next. It’s good to have a familiar face as we both make the leap from comfort into the unknown.

My point is – when you don’t have an official forum for feedback that you’d get in a more traditional work setting, you need to create your own. Not just a group of friends who will applaud everything you do in the name of courage (Although that’s nice). I need to remember to seek out those who have expected great things out of me in the past – and ask them to continue in that role – Someone to push me to be the best leader I can be, rather than take the easy route.  Someone to remind me that mediocrity is a bigger failure than trying something new and falling on your face.  And someone to have crazy conversations about the future that might include robots, zombies and pitchforks.