Striving to continually improve and then I saw Quincy’s note, she cared.

It’s a Friday night in San Francisco and I am boarding a ferry after an eye opening week studying at Stanford University. As we depart, the city appeared to swallow me whole and everything I have just done is just a very small achievement compared to scale of the city that sits before me. This experience added to the fact that I already feeling very out of my comfort zone, ready to spend the evening with a family that I had never met.

The only instructions I had was to find a white Prius where I would meet David and his daughter Quincy. As I was walking down the ramp off the ferry I was greeted by the most energetic wave from a little lady in the back seat of the Prius. David promptly introduced himself and we drove back to their house to “experiment” with local produce for dinner.

Before we sat down to eat, Quincy asked if we could share a moment of gratitude. I was grateful for their friendship and the offer to stay at their home further extending my opportunity to study and learn. 

David and Quincy said that they were grateful for me visiting and for the opportunity to be in the position to do so. It was a very powerful moment for me and made me question why someone would want to put themselves out to help and support with little to nothing in return.

David and I had a wonderful chat that could have gone forever. We reflected on shared experiences and perspectives with my mind struggling to remember every point. As I walked into bed on the pillow was this drawing from Quincy. 

“Welcome Nic”

We talk about positively connecting communities at Orange Sky and this note made me feel that. I went to bed I found myself fixed on reflecting on the last few weeks of my life and it came out as three pretty clear thoughts:

• I am overwhelmed with a sense of hope and care for the community. Everything I learnt these past few weeks reinforces these key statements from some of our friends “It’s all about HOPE and knowing that someone CARES” and “there is a huge about of power in a simple conversation”. 
• Striving to continually improve is one of our values and as a team we try and do this everyday, not only as staff but also with our friends, volunteers and supporters. I am so lucky to have had a week in Kuala Lumpur with the Obama foundation and this week at Stanford to take back to the team.
• I have always been a curious learner but have done that most of the time not in a classroom, through the power of a conversation. I find myself learning best through exploration, experience and shared story. I have pages of notes and takeaways from both these two weeks some of the lessons being:

1. Storytelling
2. Looking after yourself
3. Time management
4. Power Dynamics
5. Balancing Business and Social Objectives
6. Design Thinking
7. Decision Making & The Instinctual Brain
8. Scaling Up Excellence

My hope is that I can implement these thoughts into next part of my journey. I want to share what I have learnt but I also understand the most important lessons are the ones shared through conversation and vulnerability like moments with David and Quincy.

The Obama Foundation talked about arriving as your true self not your best self. So often at these conferences or lectures people will feel out of place and try and show up as their best self. I took this into both weeks and am thankful for the opportunity to give into my true self.

On the second day of the Stanford course I met a participant by the name of Sharad who was originally from India and now works in Singapore. He was a very softly spoken gentleman with powerful thoughts and perspective who I could have listened and learned from for weeks. He shared a story about a child's understanding of perspective. The child knew that he could cut hair with a knife but he could not cut down a tree. He needed an axe for that. But the axe could not then cut hair. A simple story, but one that I took so much from.

When we learn we are given these insights and perspectives to use as tools in our life. Some of those tools we may never use, but some we will use too much and need to sharpen over time.

A good friend and colleague Mike Duggan talks about “sharpening the axe” as an analogy for self improvement. For me this is supported through learning and having experiences outside of my comfort zone. It is also often inspired by new friends and their stories that are energised by pages of notes and ideas to digest at a later date.

Steve Jobs said in his commencement speech at Stanford “you can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them backwards”.

Looking back over the past few weeks I have to be able to connect so many dots, however there are so many more to connect. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn and grow everyday, help people and have fun. Thanks to the Obama Foundation and The Australian Stanford Association for providing me with this amazing experience. One I will truly never forget and that has given me so very much to think about. I hope I can use these experiences to continue to positively connect communities across Australia and New Zealand.