The Magic of Connecting With Strangers

Greetings. I spend most of my time helping companies and organizations to think and act in new ways in order to deliver more compelling value to the customers, members, and citizens they have the privilege to serve. And a big part of my work involves teaching leaders and employees at all levels to step out of their comfort zones in order to connect with strangers, from around the corner and around the world, as a wonderful way to stretch their thinking and possibilities. Strangers who might know something we don’t know or might be the missing piece to our most important puzzle.

As it turns out, connecting with strangers is also a great way to learn and grow as human beings, beyond the confines of our workplaces. And we can all do this simply by making a new connection with someone else based on a sense of curiosity and openness and a belief that we can be enriched, and even build a powerful bond, with practically anyone else on the planet.

So I was touched by the following video of a project that connects seniors in a Chicago retirement community with Brazilian students eager to learn English. A simple initiative that ends up creating even more important and magical outcomes. And while it has powerful implications for our social, civic, and work lives, I’ll simply suggest that it is a great way to start the week and leave you to find your own meaning in this three-minute story…

Just click the picture…

We win in business and in life when we discover the magic of connecting with strangers, and when we allow ourselves to make an unexpected difference in someone else’s life.

Cheers!