How, and when, do you connect?

I've been called a lot of names over my 53 years on this planet. But my favorite one is "conscious connector". I honestly do think it is my life's purpose. To connect people - to themselves, to likeminded colleagues, and to a community where they can be authentic.

One of my favorite movies, Happy from 2012, and a recent favorite Netflix show, Live to 100, both have a similar, yet simple, insight - community makes us happy (and even live longer). We need to have connection to other humans to feel fulfilled.

The last two weeks were busy. Happy busy. After three action-packed days and late nights sharing war stories and the sunshine with colleagues at my 6th GreenBiz conference in Phoenix....

In the photo, GreenBiz roundtable I hosted on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) for Impact Leaders

...I had the joy of spending an extra few nights in the desert with two of my besties. One is from freshman year of college (yes a 34-year friendship!) and the other from my MBA 22 years ago.  We visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West home, ate Mexican every meal (Europe doesn’t do fish tacos), and served our duty as MBA alums with a visit to the new campus of Thunderbird, now part of Arizona State University.

Ingrid and me visiting our alma mater Thunderbird

I then hopped on a plane to a 9 hours later timezone, the Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, for a girls' reunion I planned as a ski weekend.  Here I brought together two American Italian friends (one who lives in Malta and one who had been a coaching client and I hadn't seen for 10 years) as well as my first roommate in Geneva when I moved to Europe 21 years ago - between the four of us we shared five languages and currently live in four countries, so you can imagine the chats that unfolded!  

Since I have moved around the world - San Francisco, Patagonia Chile, Geneva Switzerland, London, Cambridge and now Biella Italy - I have to choose my friends carefully and be a "conscious connector".  I have to make the conscious effort to stay in touch.   And this is what I love helping others do too. Connect with new "friends" whether for work or life, make a plan to stay in touch across all networks, and keep finding interests in common to build a deeper connection, whether that be recycling, watching biopics, or skiing.

In the photo, from left to right: Nica, Me, Beatrice and Sara skiing in Courmayeur Italy

When I asked my LinkedIn network a couple of weeks back what they were most looking forward to at GreenBiz24, what do you think they said? 

It wasn’t the expert-led sessions, potential job opportunities, or even catching up with old friends.

No, the number one motivator for people making the trip to Arizona earlier this month was to connect with fellow change leaders.

To be honest, the result didn’t really surprise me.

As someone who has built my career around creating connections, I know first-hand the value of surrounding yourself with a thriving professional community. Connection is the lifeblood of this impact movement and investing time and effort in our personal and professional relationships is the only way to scale the impact.

So, I see my calling as having two roles - Enabling Connection and Being a Connector.

Enabling Connection:

I’ve seen the benefit of my professional community time and time again as I’ve grown my own network via LinkedIn since 2006, a platform where I’m now connected virtually to nearly 20k people across 40+ countries. That hasn’t happened overnight. It’s taken a daily investment of time, effort and consistency to reach that many people. I’ve also been lucky enough to take some of these 'new LinkedIn friends' offline to create deeper, more personal friendships. 

In 2020 I launched Coffee & Connect, now Impact Leaders Lab, bringing together change leaders to swap practical insights, challenges and career milestones with their peers. We’ve had 2100+ attendees at our 52 free events so far, all of whom have had the chance to connect with each other in the chat and to ask questions of our inspiring speakers.

Many have gone on to take part in my group coaching program too, a program I specifically designed with a likeminded community at the heart. Invariably, this sense of going on a job search alongside others is one of the aspects my clients enjoy the most. You are not alone on this journey. We've got your back.

Being a Connector:

And even where they aren’t thrown together as part of a shared event or coaching program, I’m always on the lookout for connections I could make happen between different members of my network.

For example, when I recognized that two of my clients, John P and Eric Z, were at similar stages in their careers – both looking to be Chief Growth Officers for climate-tech 'start-ups to scale-ups' – I knew they could help each other in their job search and asked if I could connect them. Far from seeing the other as the competition, they pooled research on topics like keywords and alternate job titles that might fit their shared criteria, and even collaborated on a framework for tracking their search. 

Then yesterday Jessica S. found her dream job posted by a CEO on LinkedIn but didn't know anyone at the Australian based travel company and nor did I. So, I sent note to the President of North America, a 2nd connection, to see if I could connect them for a call. He immediately responded yes and they have a call booked for tomorrow!

I return this week grateful - back to my boys, my routine, my partner, and my Yorkie, Bailey - comforted by home and invigorated by the reconnections with so many old friends and new connections with hundreds of spirited change leaders from GreenBiz. Feeling very grateful for my global community.

Who will you reach out to today to make a conscious connection with?

Who do you know who would benefit from you connecting them to someone else?

Shannon Houde is an ICF-certified coach with over 20 years as a recruiter and trusted advisor to evolving change leaders from Managers to CSOs. She has mentored and trained 1,000+ change leaders over 3,000 hours in ESG and corporate sustainability and is the author of Good Work: How to Build a Career That Makes a Difference in the World. Apply for a trial coaching session here!