A few years ago I was with a group of ladies discussing the zombie apocalypse, as you do, and they decided that I didn’t have any skills to provide the group for survival. I was dumbfounded. I’ve raised a child, chickens, dogs, moved to the backwoods, cook entirely from scratch, built organizations, and commandeered programming – surely one of these skills could help in survival against the walking dead. Nope. I wasn’t needed.
Needless to say, I was devastated. Not needed. Wow.
Then another group of friends recently got together and I casually mentioned that I wasn’t part of the survival team in the advent to a zombie invasion because I had no skills. One friend piped up and said how wrong that was. (Heart filled with glee.) She said that my true skill was building community and that in the end that is what was going to be needed.
Take that! I’m back in the Post Zombie Apocalypse Survival Camp.
Out Building Skills – Teaching, Keynotes, & Community Building
All of this is to say – hey, I’ve missed ya! I’ve been out building community. I was in Baltimore talking to 75+ retired teachers who lead their communities about how to engage new members. Then I was helping event planners in my community come together to support one another and create better events. I was over at our high school helping our kids re-engage with our downtown district. Then I popped over to Northwest Arkansas to help our bloggers strengthen their bond with one another. And in the meantime I camped overnight on a trail in the woods with my daughter to continue to make memories with my girl.
Good stuff.
The Why of Community
What I found working with all of these communities is that they need the “Why”. They want to create strong organizations and communities, but they might not know the why. Why they matter. Why they are working so hard. Even more they aren’t sure how to share the why with those that might be interested in what they are doing. They also might not understand why connecting with like minded folks around one topic (event planning, social media superstars, bloggers, retired teachers…) matters. I can answer that one – you are are all in the same boat with different skills and strengths and by joining together you can learn how to do it all better. It’s powerful stuff.
So, I’ve been out and about building communities and practicing my skills for the impending days of zombies and it feels great to practice my skill in every area of my life. What is your special skill?
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