How Travel and Exposure to Culture Can Lead To Positive Outcomes.

Anyone who knows me know that I love getting on planes and trains. I'm always on the go and I LOVE to experience new cultures, food and people. So the pandemic was very hard for me. I'm a recruiter and I make a living meeting and talking to people. Since restrictions have lifted I find myself spending my "free time" in South America and parts of the US South. Through my travels I've met some very interesting people in airport terminals, local cafes and on morning walks. As I reflect on the people I've met there are some common themes and it has been those themes that have helped me shape my worldview and led to some changes in my life.

In Medellin, Colombia there were a set of cafe owners that named a cafe after their abuela, "Betty". In talking to them I learned that there is a thriving community of women business owners and the key to success for them is to focus on quality. Quality of the food, quality of the people you hire and quality of how you treat your customers. This is nothing new but the old adage of make a great product, hire a good team and take care of your customers is consistent around the world.

On my morning walks in Cartagena I would sometimes have my headphones on and one day I went out without them (i think the battery died or i may have just forgotten them). And everyone said "Bueno Dias" to me. Now they may have been saying good morning to me on previous mornings, but this morning I was not distracted by NPR and I was paying attention. I'm learning to pay attention more. Some of the things I've done in business recently have been because I've been paying more attention. I noticed the shift in media production in NJ and that has led to some great production partnerships with Hulu, MTV Networks and Malka Studios.

The other benefit to travel and exposure is the relaxation and peace of mind in can bring. Sometimes when your mind is cluttered from constantly looking at the screen 1 feet in front you the synapse don't fire as fast and that can stifle creativity, clarity of thought and execution. Stepping back and getting a long view of my surroundings have helped me to connect with candidates, actively listen as they walk me through their background and ask the right questions when assessing their skills. It has also been a great ice-breaker to talk about my travels and helps create more relaxed environment for interviews.

So get out there, see the world (or the parts of your city you have not seen before), talk to people, taste the sweetness on the tongue of saying "hola" and live. Maybe we'll bump into each other at JFK one of these days...Ciao!