Mix: Travel, Perspective, Reflection. Let Settle.

Each Friday I send an email to the broad communications team at Microsoft, titled, naturally, TGIF. :) Sometimes I share these externally; below is the one I sent October 13, 2023.

As a young boy growing up in Saratoga, California, my siblings and I were fascinated by the creek that ran near our house. It was either down the road and through a gate, or much closer silently through a neighbor yard, quietly over a fence, across another trail and fence and there you were. For us, it was the wilds. We’d spend long days there, eating blackberries, racing sticks fashioned into boats along the way, leaping and jumping across, and through the water, finding polywogs amidst the algae and bringing them home to hatch into frogs, setting off firecrackers. In the late summer, when the water was low, we’d sit by the remaining ponds and heave in rocks, then watch the sediment explode up from the bottom, swirl around and then slowly settle, leaving clear green water behind.

As this week closes, I feel a bit like those small ponds, the world having heaved in big rocks called travel and new perspective, different questions, new challenges to wrestle with, tragedy, forced changes to plans. In the moment, with sediment around me, it can be easy to reach conclusions, drive to action. But over time, I’ve looked back at my younger self and remembered that it is often better to find a quiet place, let the sediment slowly fall, and look fresh at what is left.

I had a remarkable trip to India, although it was far too short. As I’ve noted before, there is nothing to refresh perspective than to be someplace else, to see it however briefly, to spend time talking to sales leaders, engineers, reporters, editors, communication leaders at Microsoft and elsewhere. Each meeting was a rock thrown into the pond of “what I know” as travel always does. I have so many ideas, but am striving to stay still a bit longer. My core belief in the incredible talent of our community needs no clarity however! ??

I did not make it to Sydney, despite having a big presentation and multiple meetings set up. Standing in front of the Air India ticket counter and explaining over and over that yes I would be okay to go to Australia, and that it was a mistake the visa was not showing in the system, did not get me on the plane, and sitting there, sweat drenched and wildly aggravated trying to figure out the best bad option I might have, I convinced travel to rebook me to Seattle so I could do the presentation remotely, even as they told me I’d never make the flight. With the kind assistance of Air India, who clearly took pity on me, I raced through the airport and was one of the last people to board. Here is one learning for sure: be nice when you are grumpy because the people you are asking for help are not the ones who caused the problem. I made it back to Seattle, and did my presentation to PRIA on our year of AI learning via Teams. I got a bunch of great questions – about culture, about how communicators could/should be communicating not just with AI but about AI, how we think about creativity and how it might evolve. Engaging with a community of communicators is always a great experience!

I was in Delhi when Israel was attacked by terrorists. Previously, I’d relied on Twitter to get a sense of what is happening in the world, but that era is past. Instead, via traditional media and posts from those I knew, I could pull together a clouded view of what had happened, and hear from friends in the region, or with family there, pain and anguish in their voices. I get angry when I read stories about “geopolitical this” and “who/what government may be to blame,” because it obscures the human loss and tragedy that has happened, and the suffering ahead for people living in Gaza. My heart breaks, and will break again tomorrow, and the day after. There are clouds and sediment all round, nothing settled, no solutions, only human suffering. I ask myself, where is the path forward here, and I find no answer.

TGIF, with jet lag and exhaustion all around me and less vision than I might want, I am home, looking for hope, optimism, grace for the world.

fxs