Ok, so you thought I was going to talk about packing, right? That's coming...but first:
This evening, I was spending a few minutes catching up on the blogs to which I subscribe -- which is something I haven't had the cycles to do lately, and it is really good climb back in. One article that grabbed me is Rosa's post on Joyful Jubilant Learning, called "Learning to Talk to Each Other."
You see, Rosa is one of the people that really got me to talk to other people in "blog world" a couple of years ago, and has been a beacon for me for how to get meaningful dialog to happen. Through her blog, appropriately titled "Talking Story," Rosa writes a lot of stuff, and reaches a lot of people. But she also listens, connects dots, and "refactors" things to make them better -- that is her real gift. Some examples I've seen:
- Rosa connects old ideas in new ways, like in her book "Managing With Aloha" which bring traditional Hawaiian values to bear on modern management challenges.
- Rosa connects people, like when she introduced me to Adrian Trenholm in the UK (who then introduced me to other people)
- Rosa connects people to ideas, like when she uses the Joyful Jubilant Learning community (which she started), to run projects to help them learn new skills
The magic happens because Rosa is easy to talk to, and that's because she really listens and shares relevant experiences with people. She gives herself to the conversation in a way that gives you the impression that she's really paying attention, not trying to think about what she's going to say next or what she's going to do after the conversation is over.
Oh - and did I mention that I consider Rosa to be one of my best friends, even though I've never met her face-to-face, and we've only spoken live once? I don't know how she does it, but she has a knack for reaching out to me at just the right time, with something I didn't realize I needed.
One day, I hope to become as good at connecting with people as Rosa.
Related items
- Not what, or how - but why? (9/27/2005)
- Here's to new friends (5/31/2005)
- Sharing gifts with friends (12/15/2006)