Earlier this year I took some time out to travel and spent several weeks hiking and exploring Tasmania and New Zealand. I was enthralled with the mountains, trees, lakes, deep seas and wild life, in particular the thrill of knowing as you sail away from the coast line at Kaikoura the sea bed drops from circa 30 meters to 2000 meters. I found the power of the sea swell both exhilarating and enlightening realising its unstoppable force.
Travelling brings opportunities to experience different cultures, climates, landscapes and ways of living. We meet people whose lives, livelihoods and beliefs are wonderfully varied and, in doing so, often discover assumptions we didn’t even know we were carrying.
When we travel, we encounter unfamiliar food, customs, perspectives and ways of being. Some people meet those encounters with curiosity and wonder. Others instinctively close them down.
There is something about our way of being in the world that shapes what we notice, what we engage with and what possibilities become available to us.
This is a story of chance conversation and connection at Milford Sound, on New Zealand’s South Island, one of the most remote and breathtaking places I’ve ever visited.
Towering mountains rise straight out of the water. Waterfalls emerge from rocks disappearing into the sea almost as quickly as they arrive. It’s eerily misty and beautiful and a place to watch in wonder.
As the boat made its way through the Sound, surrounded by mountains and waterfalls, I got chatting to a couple from the UK who had been travelling for several months.
They would soon be returning home and, like many people reaching the end of a long trip, were beginning to think about work and what came next.
“What do you do?” I asked.
“I’m a primary teacher,” Daisy replied.
“Where will you be living when you get back?”
“Possibly Nottingham.”
At that point it was just two travellers chatting, enjoying the scenery and connection.
I could have wished her luck and left it there. Instead, because I care deeply about education, children and helping people find meaningful work, I found myself making an offer, opening up a possibility.
“Have you heard of Zen Educate?”
We chatted about how she could begin the registration and safeguarding process before returning home and potentially have work waiting for her when she arrived back in the UK. Daisy took the selfie, and we wished each other well.
It didn’t take long talking with Daisy to recognise that she would be a real asset to a school.
The thing about caring deeply about what you do is that it stops feeling like something you switch on and off.
I’ve never been particularly drawn to the idea of “switching off from work”. Not because I think people shouldn’t rest, but because the work I care about is connected to what matters to me. It is less about a job and more about contribution.
Whether I’m coaching leaders, supporting schools or talking to someone on the other side of the world, I find myself listening for possibilities. Not because I have to, but because that’s the conversation I want to be in.
A chance encounter in Milford Sound became a photograph, a message on Slack, much amusement and delight amongst the Zen team, and a follow-up conversation.
Within hours, Liv, who recruits across Australia and New Zealand, was in touch asking for Daisy’s details.
When Daisy returned to the UK, she secured a teaching role with Zen and now has a full time role for September. Well deserved!
A conversation, an opportunity noticed, an offer, acceptance and some follow-through.
I love it when things come together!
And that future didn’t exist a few hours earlier. It emerged because of a chance conversation.
We can’t know what would have happened had we never spoken. What I do know is that conversations matter. Through them we create possibilities, make offers, build relationships and sometimes change the course of what happens next.
Recently I shared this story with Tony Birch. Tony was intrigued by the story of a chance conversation and human connection.
The possibility emerged because two people struck up a conversation, shared, listened carefully, and an offer was made and accepted.
The possibility became reality because great technology made acting on that conversation easy. Great tech doesn’t replace human judgement, curiosity or care. It amplifies them.
The care came first, then the conversation. The technology enabled the right teacher to connect with the right school quickly, transparently and we know it works at scale.
This isn’t technology for its own sake, but technology in service of something meaningful. Technology that helps talented teachers and teaching assistants find schools where they can flourish, and helps children benefit from their skills, commitment and care.
- What we care about determines what we notice.
- We can all create possibilities through our conversations
- Great technology enables the possibility of coordinated action at scale.
Alan Sieler (Coaching to the Human Soul) describes this as ontogenic drift: the way our lives unfold through the relationships, conversations and commitments we enter into. The future rarely arrives fully formed. More often it emerges through a series of encounters and responses.
A conversation on a boat in one of the most remote places on earth leads to a teaching role in England.
Obviously it wasn’t planned. I couldn’t have started the day with that in mind. But I can start each day with an intention to notice, to be alert to possibilities, to be kind, and be someone who connects and opens doors.
David Whyte writes:
“Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.”
Not every conversation leads to an obvious outcome. Some appear inconsequential. Some only reveal their significance years later.
But for our brief visit on this planet, staying curious, noticing possibilities, making offers and being willing to engage with the unfamiliar feels like a way of being worth inhabiting.
The team at Zen always say #we-care-more
It’s a mission for us – not just a job.
So I’m here, with the team from Zen who I’ve had the joy of supporting since 2019 in their amazing journey from an original idea to a global social enterprise, never missing a chance to tell the world #we-care-more 🌏