“Meantime, life outside goes on all around you.”

— Bob Dylan

Though I have been traveling during 2023 — and in the months and year before this — I have not been flying on planes or attending big conferences for a long time.

9/11 changed us forever and the convening of large groups was forever altered. There was a decade in my working career when I was on a plane every week speaking to the topic of one of my books somewhere in the U.S. or Europe. I loved the adventure of that lifestyle.

And in the years of 2013, ’14, and ’15, I reimagined my life to include my service dog Buddha Bear, a rescued South African mastiff named Big Boy, and my mother, Betsi. We all lived in a 900 square-foot cottage on the edge of Lake Erie next to an historic red oak tree. We were grounded in living the last year of my mother’s life.

Either way of living suited me equally. I have been both a ‘road warrior’ and a Hausfrau home buddy. I recognize that I have been many other versions of myself, as well. It seems that life around us is always changing and we need to flex and adapt to find ways to fit in and respond to the change.

Like choosing a Halloween costume (which I still do for myself and my pets – this year it was Ursala for me), I have many modes and have lived many architypes.

• How about you?

This week, I found myself in a previous gear. I attended the International AME (Association for Manufacturing Excellence) which was held in Cleveland. Three of my clients were presenting in the practitioner sessions, telling their stories of innovation, leadership, culture, change, and succession. I attended the conference with another colleague who owns his own manufacturing company. With his encouragement I attended sessions and keynotes until the very end of the day. With my encouragement, he and I networked in the exhibit area. He would prefer to sit quietly and I (well, you know me) enjoy the exploration of new relationships and enthusiastic chit chat.

Both were quite rewarding.

However, in the presentation sessions, I benefited from hearing the passions of other people. I felt like this conference was well designed in its balance of technical information and content about the importance of people, culture and leadership. I could sit quietly and absorb the energy of others because it was so akin to my own beliefs and passions.

One presenter, Shannon Bumgarner, spoke about the audacity of courage. She shared a definition with us for courage that really resonated with me, “To speak one’s mind by telling one’s heart.”

Over a really tasty conference lunch by Levy Caterers of Cleveland, I heard Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry Wehmiller — whose company I had never heard of but will be following closely. Barry had grown his family business into a billion-dollar, global powerhouse that not only focuses on products and services but does this with a total commitment to leadership and the person. Barry is the author of the book, ‘Everyone Matters’ and has a podcast called Truly Human Leadership. Some of his little nuggets of wisdom include: ‘The person you report to at work has a greater impact on your health than your family.’

Let that settle in.

Barry believes that we can “create economic and human value in harmony;” that a “robust business model and culture of caring” go hand in hand.

I am grateful that I did not skip the opportunity to learn and just act efficiently to attend the sessions of those I was there to support. I did not let the busyness of my schedule take priority over the opportunity to engage with others.

The exhibit area held more treats. There were new technologies and resources to explore and friends to make. Job and Lukas from the Netherlands, whose company — AG5 Skills Management software, headquartered in Amsterdam — quickly became buddies to me. They have visited me and the dogs at the big house and will spend their last day in the U.S. at Pebble Ledges Ranch communing with Jackie and Herb Stevenson, four big dogs, a herd of horses at liberty, and into the woods to walk a Lakota medicine wheel. I can’t think of a better way to top off a trip to the U.S.

Through the Pandemic I have learned how easy it is to do my work on my laptop from my dining room table. I can sit in a hard antique chair and work for hours. But I question, is this good for me? And though it is efficient, is it the best way to work and live?

I am so grateful that the conference was in my own backyard. This renewed experience makes me want to broaden my horizons again.

AME is going to be in Atlanta next year. Maybe I should put it on my calendar. And, Oh! there are so many other opportunities, both near and far, that might be calling my name.

• Are you ready to pick up some of the ways you used to work and live before we learned to work remotely?

The need to change, adapt, flex, and move differently through to find a path that is uniquely our own is our new calling.

May you discover the richness all around you, within you, and within the people who pass through your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leslie

“In order to design a future of positive change,
we must first become expert at changing our minds.”

— Jacque Fresco