I was testing WiseTribe’s Wisdom Exchanges in California for the first time. The plan was to test one in Santa Barbara and one in the Bay Area.
The Santa Barbara event was scheduled for the Tuesday after Memorial Day and I should have heeded local advice that it was likely going to be a tough day to get people. Lesson learned.
The Santa Barbara event might not have happened but it led me to meet someone with considerable experience in facilitating groups. So much so that he’s actually authored a giant size book on the subject.
We decided to meet for a coffee since I’m interested in working with facilitators and he is interested in the mission of WiseTribe. However, we seemed to stumble over one another in conversation despite this match-up, and I couldn’t help feel that this guy was off his game.
About 40 minutes into conversation, muddling through vision, mission, professional experience and personal networks, blah, blah, blah, we finally had a breakthrough. I had just finished explaining one of my key challenges: it is unbelievably difficult to market anything dealing with age in a non “anti-aging” fashion because all the messages we tell ourselves about aging is that it SUCKS. Period. Adding to my quandary is that WiseTribe, in ways, is addressing the pervasive “alone-ness” that’s creeping as we dig deeper into our devices desperate for someone to validate us with “likes” and “follows.” How do you market that?
That’s when he let me in: less than a month ago his wife passed away. His eyes welled as he took a deep breathe to gain composure and long silence unfolded before us.
A conversation that was framed around supply and demand dissolved. He began to express how a concept like WiseTribe could help him through this loss. He would love to connect with others who are interested committing to acts of services for benefit their communities –and challenge cultural views that just because we’re older, it doesn’t mean we’re done providing value.
Ironically, it was during this last part of our conversation that he went from being off his game to being passionately “game-on.” I hope like hell we’ll be able to build WiseTribe into something that helps one another through such life changes and make the world a wee bit better in the process.
He asked to remain anonymous, though here you can read more about his realization of waking up to life.
Jacqueline
