How Do You think About Connection?

When I joined my breakout room yesterday, I sheepishly told my small group, "I think I'm a 6, but I don't want to toot my own horn."

They assured me to toot away.

What's interesting, though, and what Manal Sayid, MBA invited us to think more deeply about, is how did we come to this thinking/belief about connection.

I didn't grow up in a connected home.

My great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents all lived by the Stoic heritage that they came from.

We shared the facts, but never the feelings.
I was parented through authority, but not connection.
And I was always the "sensitive one."

When I first started my student teaching assignments in some pretty rough neighbors of Boston, I tried to teach by the way I was parented -- by exerting my authority.

Yet, my mostly black and brown students, could see through my veneer, and any authority I had was nullified by the few years separating us, and the fact that I had no true knowledge of their world.

I was the rich white girl from the suburbs, coming to "save" them.
They scoffed at the idea of trust between us.

It took a shared experience of unbelonging, for me to see just how important connection would be if I was going to truly make a difference in my students lives.

I dropped my fake authority, and started truly connecting with my students. It was only with this new connection, that a new commitment arose, and academic performance took a turn.

Now, almost 30 years later, I can look back on those days and remember the connection I felt, even if I can't remember a drop of content that I taught.

We can consume all the content we can handle, but unless we truly connect to the ideas, to ourselves, and to our hearts, nothing will change.

As Peter Block reminded us yesterday, "Connection is the content."

Thank you, Chad Littlefield and team, for creating a space for us all to connect around the importance of connection to one another.

Originally posted on LinkedIn with comments.

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