Right now, I’m sitting in a car and just crossed the Tennessee-Alabama border. I’m heading north towards Nashville. Right now I am about 47 miles outside of Nashville and I thought it was a good time to knock out a blog post for today. One of the things that I’m going to do today is check in with an old friend in Dayton, Ohio.
Many years ago, I read a book that had a positive effect on me; it was written by Keith Ferrazzi and entitled Never Eat Alone. I try to put the lessons learned into practice whenever I’m traveling. I try to reach out to friends and acquaintances I haven’t seen in a while in an effort to visit with them and catch up on their lives. That’s what we’re planning to do this evening in Dayton.
Roy and I were stationed together in the Air Force. He was a captain in the security forces and we trained together in the Bujinkan. We would regularly get together on the mats to throw each other around. I always enjoyed training with him and just talking with him. Getting together this evening was an opportunity to reconnect and see how his career is going. We went our separate ways when I retired and he went to medical school; I haven’t seen him since 1999.
During this trip, I also had an opportunity to catch up with my Civil Air Patrol friends who are coming from across the nation to make CAP better. It was great to listen to their stories. They were at Maxwell AFB to participate in the CAP Senior Advisory Group (CSAG). It is a gathering of the senior leadership of CAP for the purpose of deciding policy and running of Civil Air Patrol business.
I was at Maxwell AFB to work on an eLearning course. It is a leadership course that we have to finalize for a pilot rollout in January. It was good to catch up with the folks that I talk with quite often on the telephone but don’t get to visit with as much as I’d like to.
I think it’s important to look up people in the area you are traveling and try to connect with them. Social media tools and help locate these connections. I put a shout out into the area I am visiting and try to make the opportunity to visit with people. If I’ve got somebody swinging by my area I definitely open the door and invite them to come to visit. I enjoy just sitting down and talking with people.
If you haven’t read the book, Never Eat Alone, I recommend it. It is about how to network by adding value to other people’s lives through simple things like sharing a meal and looking for opportunities to help build their network or helping them achieve their goals to get to a better place.
