OLYMPIC COWS?

Our whole family is dumbfounded. We have not been able to solve an astonishing mystery. Our two cows, separated by a five-foot metal fence, somehow came together in the same pen. There is no break in the fence, so the only explanation is that one must have jumped over it, which seems impossible. They were together all summer in the same pasture and simply could not stand to be separated.    

Humans have the same innate desire to come together. I recently facilitated a large leadership task force charged with developing a recommendation in a very short time. We met several times over Zoom and were making steady progress when our executive sponsors invested in bringing us all together for a two-day in-person session. The results we achieved were dramatic. “We got more done in two days than we could have in months of Zoom meetings,” one of them said.

Technology can be a tremendous blessing. All my children except for one were together for Christmas. Unfortunately, our daughter, who lives in France with her husband, couldn’t be here. So, one afternoon, we joined them over Zoom on a large screen while we both prepared and ate the same gourmet French meal. It was better than nothing but no replacement for being in the same room. It might require some fence jumping, but the energy created when groups meet in person is worth the investment and an awesome thing to be a part of.