Written by OLI Director of Sales and Marketing Dave Brown
Current situation: day two of the event and we just stopped for lunch after a “data rich” sequence of presentations. No spoiler alerts, but I will echo Economic Survey presenter Dan Serebin and Research Presenter Amy Sondrup when I say, you have to participate to get vital information to help you run and manage your business. This applies to company owners as well as person who believes they are a leader in their company.
However, one concept really struck a chord with me was shared by Key Note Speaker, Liz Bohannon. While explaining the importance of understanding and embracing the concept of “it takes a village” to not just survive, but to thrive she focused on Vulnerability. In essence, people that have the ability to demonstrate personal vulnerability are routinely rewarded by individuals who are in a position to judge and assess that persons thoughts and actions.
Liz shared an example of a person demonstrating a product. Demo #1, flawless delivery and dismount stuck, but received by the audience as M’eh. But demo #2, the presenter had an oopise daisy moment and spilled the product creating a mess and certainly failing. Nope, the human spirit stepped in, audience members felt an interdependent sense of empathy and in the end rated the demo as better and more likely to purchase this product.
In demo #2, the presenter dropped the scripted pitch, acknowledged the gaff and did the best to recover. That moment of being vulnerable and open actually impacted the audience in an unsuspecting way.
Post speaker, I had an extremely insightful and engaging conversation with Gina Madonna from Bowman Design and Noel Webster from Willwork. We had vulnerability on our minds and I asked Noel a somewhat random question because I was curious. I won’t divulge the specifics, but she started her explanation by saying, “well in the spirit of being open and vulnerable, I am doing this because….”. What followed was an unexpected connection where Gina and I completely understood and I felt honored that Noel felt comfortable enough to share something personal. We spent 10-15 minutes listening, laughing, and I believe I speak for all three of us, that we parted ways knowing are collective relationships all improved and only did so because A. we came to Access 2025 and B. we knew we just strengthen our interpersonal bonds strictly because Noel proactively shared a detail we would have never uncovered.
My takeaway(s). Coming the EDPA Access is a gift that I do not take lightly and appreciate that I have worked for several industry companies who believe in supporting the association, the village, and my personal / professional growth. I encourage you as the reader to stop what you are doing, go connect with a coworker whom you don’t know and share with them something about yourself which you do not normally share with anyone, especially a work colleague. Pretty sure the two of you will be more deeply connected in 45 minutes than you are right now. Leaning into our interdependence by showing our vulnerability may seem counterintuitive, but it is in line with the human spirit.
Heading back to the afternoon sessions and ready to tax my brain more. Cheers!
