Dear Stranger On a Plane

To the stranger who sat next to me on the plane,?

Thank you.?

You likely had no idea I never talk to strangers on planes. In fact, I don’t get up to use the bathroom to avoid talking to anyone and wear earbuds to deter the start of any conversation.

Today, those ear buds died while FaceTiming my daughter at the airport.

While working on my laptop––a clear sign I was seeking to avoid conversation, you interrupted, “You are so great for working on a plane. I’m not sure I could.”?

I nodded. Perhaps, I even grunted. Unsure how best to engage with you, a stranger.

Not giving up, you prodded, “What do you do for work?” I replied, “I help organizations bring out their best talent using Gallup's StrengthsFinder.”

You proceeded to pull up an email with your Gallup Strengths themes. My awkwardness dissipated.?

Woo. Communication. Achiever. Significance. Learner. I was not surprised by your strengths. You were effortless in your ability to strike up a conversation.

While three of your top strengths are in my bottom 34, we did share “Achiever” and “Learner. We chatted about them. You shared the challenges in engaging the strengths assessment at previous organizations. You talked about how your strengths changed in your different job roles. You revealed your wife’s themes.

Gallup Strengths gave us a language; opening the door to a conversation about the dynamics of the Clifton 34 themes and where your talents resided. It led us to talk about the challenges of owning our own businesses and how our Achiever and Learner keep us productive. And of course, I enjoyed the commonality of raising young daughters.

You even talked about how your own business could benefit from my Strength Based Team Training. It was a perfect window to pitch my services, but I didn’t. Ironically, I was too wrapped up in talking about Strengths.

So why am I thanking you??

I thank you because your Strengths allowed me to stretch myself––to talk and engage openly with someone I didn’t know. And no surprise to me, as someone with high Developer, I gained energy from learning about your Strengths.?

I thank you because you used your Woo, Communication, and Significance- to literally clear the crowded path for me to reach my connecting flight when it was already 10 minutes into boarding.

Maybe next time I can pull on my own Woo to start a conversation with the passenger next to me and maybe even to pitch my services. But for now, thank you for the reminder that we all really do have unique Strengths, and yours helped me see a future opportunity, and realize that I’m not always awkward if I can find some commonality!?

And in case you were wondering, I made my connecting flight!?