Keep It Humble

Last month I got to co-emcee a large production of a conference and slip off on the last day to do a smaller more intimate conversation with a bureau client.?I really couldn't ask for a better “day in the life” 24-hour period for those that aren’t professional speakers.

Leaving a sexy resort hotel with its big stage, video screens, and teleprompters to arrive at a community based event’s closing keynote and lunch is already quite the spectrum.?This is also one of my favorite aspect of this amazing career I have made for myself. ?

After working on scripts, high level keynoters, break out sessions, and very complimentary conference attendees, it was really lovely to slink away in the early morning hours and drive up into the mountains to do what I love doing best. ?

Showcasing how we already have the skills to have challenging conversations is one thing, but to point out that we consciously or unconsciously choose not to use our skills is our responsibility.?Leading audiences through a process where we typically decide we don’t want to go any further is how we can at least begin to understand our patterns, which will then, hopefully, lead to more conversations that matter.

As we finished lunch (shrimp salad!), I took the stage and connected with audience members at their most vulnerable because conversations about current events are easier than those you aren’t having with your children, co-workers, or strangers you bump into.

This was also ideally going to be the conference where I launched my new book, but it wasn’t ready yet. The client was very understanding and excited to have a sponsor gift every attendee with my original book. I hired a photographer to be at the event, too. Everything was as fancy as it could get in the middle of a fancy gig. ?

So much about this line of work is about ego, and I am constantly trying to remind myself that the degree of humility required to balance out my ever-expanding ego is real.?Sometimes, humility comes at me like a dark horse to remind me of who and where I am in the world, too. ?

A perfect example is finding a copy of my book in the garbage can as I left the ballroom.?I asked the photographer to take a picture of it because I knew I would want to share it with you!?I am not looking for ego hits as I am sharing the humility required to do this weird job I love so much.

I saw the man throw it in the garbage can.?I was speaking and sharing about my brother and our relationship now that Q-anon has entered his worldview.? I shared that I had to realize that I was more prepared for his death than his absence and that I had to change my expectations to maintain a connection with him.

My brother and I have survived a lot – mostly on our own – and shared a lot together. ?

I remember saying that there is one set of morality and that being wrong is wrong just as being right is being right.? “A flat earther is wrong and if I want to have a relationship with them, then I am going to have to figure out a way to do that vs. me trying to correct their worldview.”? It was at this sentence that the man stood, threw the book away, and walked out of the room.

No, I didn’t get to follow up with him.

I do get to reaffirm my commitment to my brother because he is important to me, even if most of our conversations about landscaping are over text these days.?He matters to me.?Sharing this example with my audiences, when appropriate, seems to give some hope, and others may lead to frustration.

This is the world we live in, and – no matter what – it requires a healthy check of our ego and an extra dose of humility.?Please remember this as we head deeper into election season.

Who matters to you??What are you doing to keep those relationships from no longer existing?

Humility matters, at times, more than right and wrong.? Unifying together for the common good with various ways of getting there requires a degree of humility that many of us, myself included, have forgotten about due to the energy we spend on those being wrong.