Last Thurs night I sat in front of a crowd, sweating bullets.
In front of me were dozens of chairs in tidy rows, and 2 hours of TalentStories event still to run.
There were also 40 people in those seats; tired after a long day, and week.
The goal was to keep the speakers to 30 minutes, then turn the room over to attendees. The "real" event would be small group breakouts.
But to get there we had to literally make the chairs face each other, not the stage.
And for all the design and planning involved, it was this pivot from stage to circle that freaked me out. 😬
After all, 40 chairs in rows had to flip to 8 circles of 5, fast. In a room that wasn't really big enough to start with.
So I was braced for that awkward transition, where people get up, and mill around to find their group. They go to their phones, the energy dies, they go home.
It didn't happen. On the contrary. 😅
I looked up after 2 minutes, and the circles were tight. People were physically leaned in, and the volume in the room had doubled.
They weren't willing to move the chairs. They were *dying* to.
And then it just kept going. And going.
Two hours later, the venue had to kick us out, at 9:15pm. School night, kids at home, work in the morning? Nobody seemed to care, much less want to leave.
For years, folks have asked me: will professionals really want to talk about work, with strangers, after a long day of...work?
Our entire careers, we were taught not to talk about work. Not really. Def not the doubts or pivots or challenges that animate our career.
You went it alone, b/c the org wanted you to, and b/c vulnerability was weakness.
That era is over.
People realize a) the silence served the org more than it did them, b) the pace of change is such that we need support. Flying solo went from suspect to just plain...unwise.
Thursday night was the proof: people showing up, with others, to say and hear what we've been carrying around in our heads for too long.
People sharing their challenges, but also their insight, optimism, experience and wisdom. People forging real connection.
This is what 2026 demands. Not LinkedIn polish, or lone-wolf grit, or white-knuckling through a transition on your own. But career resilience.
Navigating your career with real people, in motion, learning and evolving together. TalentStories -- the newsletter, the WhatsApp community, the events -- is a space for building that resilience. Together. 💪🏻
If this resonates, the newsletter is the best way in. It goes out every Friday, and you can join via the link in comments. ↓
Huge thanks to Swarnima Korde from Mistral AI and JJ (Projjal) Ghatak, founder of OnLoop for going first on stage with me, and modelling the depth and candor we then got in the breakouts. 🙏🏻
Thanks as well to the eight volunteer guides from the community who ran our circles with such deft touch, and made the night what it was. I'm tagging them below. ❤️
In front of me were dozens of chairs in tidy rows, and 2 hours of TalentStories event still to run.
There were also 40 people in those seats; tired after a long day, and week.
The goal was to keep the speakers to 30 minutes, then turn the room over to attendees. The "real" event would be small group breakouts.
But to get there we had to literally make the chairs face each other, not the stage.
And for all the design and planning involved, it was this pivot from stage to circle that freaked me out. 😬
After all, 40 chairs in rows had to flip to 8 circles of 5, fast. In a room that wasn't really big enough to start with.
So I was braced for that awkward transition, where people get up, and mill around to find their group. They go to their phones, the energy dies, they go home.
It didn't happen. On the contrary. 😅
I looked up after 2 minutes, and the circles were tight. People were physically leaned in, and the volume in the room had doubled.
They weren't willing to move the chairs. They were *dying* to.
And then it just kept going. And going.
Two hours later, the venue had to kick us out, at 9:15pm. School night, kids at home, work in the morning? Nobody seemed to care, much less want to leave.
For years, folks have asked me: will professionals really want to talk about work, with strangers, after a long day of...work?
Our entire careers, we were taught not to talk about work. Not really. Def not the doubts or pivots or challenges that animate our career.
You went it alone, b/c the org wanted you to, and b/c vulnerability was weakness.
That era is over.
People realize a) the silence served the org more than it did them, b) the pace of change is such that we need support. Flying solo went from suspect to just plain...unwise.
Thursday night was the proof: people showing up, with others, to say and hear what we've been carrying around in our heads for too long.
People sharing their challenges, but also their insight, optimism, experience and wisdom. People forging real connection.
This is what 2026 demands. Not LinkedIn polish, or lone-wolf grit, or white-knuckling through a transition on your own. But career resilience.
Navigating your career with real people, in motion, learning and evolving together. TalentStories -- the newsletter, the WhatsApp community, the events -- is a space for building that resilience. Together. 💪🏻
If this resonates, the newsletter is the best way in. It goes out every Friday, and you can join via the link in comments. ↓
Huge thanks to Swarnima Korde from Mistral AI and JJ (Projjal) Ghatak, founder of OnLoop for going first on stage with me, and modelling the depth and candor we then got in the breakouts. 🙏🏻
Thanks as well to the eight volunteer guides from the community who ran our circles with such deft touch, and made the night what it was. I'm tagging them below. ❤️
