Having an Open House

Greetings.  It's Columbus Day here in the United States–a holiday that seems to be celebrated by fewer people each year.  And that's probably reasonable.  It's not that I have anything against Columbus–though he never really intended to come here.  He was, by all accounts, looking for a much faster way to India when North America got in his path.  And, as for "discovering" the New World, it's probably safe to say that the people and cultures already living in this hemisphere were the real discoverers over several thousand years…and they were likely content to keep it a big secret when Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria arrived.  Though it is worth noting that Chris was definitely daring, stylish and very skilled at raising venture capital.

But so much for history.  Instead, let's think about a cool idea that comes from the very observance of Columbus Day.  Because many school systems today are using this holiday as a great day to hold "open houses"–inviting parents to visit their students' classes so they can check out the teachers, gain a glimpse of the subject matter, see how junior behaves away from home and struggle to avoid becoming hypoglycemic until it's time for the remarkably healthy lunch in the cafeteria.  As such, it's a very useful idea which quickly got me thinking about its potential value in our companies and organizations.

Now I know that many businesses have already embraced this notion as it relates to customers.  Inviting them so we can show off our latest and greatest products, services and solutions.  Which makes a lot of sense in any organization where we can make our stuff look tangible and compelling.  Think of architects' offices, new car dealerships, sporting goods stores, hospitals and technology companies.  But what about using this idea as a way to strengthen the knowledge and connections of our own people?  

By having each department or business unit welcome colleagues from across the enterprise…

To share what we do, what knowledge and insight we have and our commitment to become even better collaborators.  To showing that we can even be fun to work with as we demonstrate our real value to the enterprise.

We win in business and in life when we get to know each other better. And when we become more open to all of our colleagues without having to go half-way around the world in search of India.

Cheers and Happy Columbus Day!