Why the baseball hat should be the MVP for 2020 ( and beyond)

I know. Baseball hats? WT? We all agree- 2020 was a year none of us have ever seen... and so far into 2021 it's still off-balance. Like a washing machine that's trying to do those heavy loads-- it just keeps going thump- thump- thump until you get out of your chair and rebalance it. But we're not talking about washing machines- we're talking about baseball hats... and why I feel it's the real MVP for 2020.

Prior to the pandemic you might call me a road warrior. In presales that is expected. You have new business you want to meet the prospect face to face. There is something about having a handshake, seeing where they work, how their work environment is established- you learn a lot about seeing the environment that you don't get from reading a 10-k or browsing their website. In March 2020 everything came to a screeching halt with face to face travel---none. Zero. No exception and for good reason. What do we do to have meetings now???? In comes zoom... webex.. teams.. whatever your soup du jour of video conferencing is. Video. Yikes. Run away... run away now! Now I'll tell you... I fought turning on my webcam... in fact we gave out webcam covers to our prospects and customers. You want me to be on a video call? That's supposed to be one of the benefits of working remotely-- I can stay in my jammies and keep my hair undone yet still be productive when I'm not on prospect facing calls. My workmates-- they don't need to see my face right??? Besides.. this stay at home was not going to last that long. Or so we thought....

Fast forward to June- July- August- we are all still working remotely. No one is going anywhere anytime soon. Yet we are missing the one personal connection- face to face contact. Of course- if we are on a prospect facing call we dress the part. But what about those internal ones???? The 8-10 zoom calls a day can bring real fatigue. If you are in the middle of it, you know what I am talking about. So does that mean I need to dress the part every single day? (hint: read on)

Of course not. In comes the baseball hat. It keeps the hair nice, it hides the flaws and better yet- it's a fashion statement. I can grab from any number of hats I have on the side of my desk to suit my mood, the weather, what sports team in in play around now. I am now camera-ready because this is a fashion statement, an accessory for me. And better yet? It's a conversation starter. Meet with someone new- they ask you about your hat- where did you get it from, what did you think about that restaurant, etc. etc. etc. Those conversations that we used to have face to face can now happen on video as well without me worrying about what do I look like. I just grab a hat.

It's become second nature now to keep the camera on. As I have found with many of my prospects as well. We've let our guard down in the process, too, in my opinion. We are more human, less stuffy, more approachable. After all isn't that what it's all about? Kindness and inclusion.

It's that easy. Grab the hat. Turn the camera on. And look for what I'm sporting on my next call. You never know what we might have in common.