Better to be interested than interesting
I’m on Ragbrai this week - going across Iowa in spectacular fashion. There’s a lot of us doing it (both on the ISH team and in total - like twenty thousand tops they say), and for the past couple of months I’ve suffered from only talking about biking and Ragbrai. I’ve become a repetitive bore. Sigh … Well, after this week, I’ll start yapping about something else so just hang on.
We all have our topics. I watch a morning news/politics program, and they drone on about baseball; I’m not a fan of baseball, and I watch this program specifically for the politics but during the summer - right now, I can barely stand to watch it. They are all excited to yap on about baseball - because their small community of people around that specific table likes it … but I would bet a lot of viewers are like me. So I switch channels passively (instead of calling them in NYC and telling them to stop it.)
How often … “Steve” do people switch off talking to me because I am droning on about biking or something they don’t want to hear or could care less about?? The realization of this is somewhat mortifying because the last thing I want to be in life is a bore.
When I was first starting my career - 30 plus years ago - the hospital I worked for spent a lot of time and effort on benefits (retirement, health, flex benefits). Because I wasn’t at the age or place where I needed these benefits - I didn’t pay attention. I look back now, and wish I did. When we put out our weekly newsletter - as much as I think everything is exciting and wonderful - not everyone feels the same. As we work on communication, we want to be fascinated, interested, excited in what pushes your buttons; what is your ragbrai/baseball/topic? How can we relate and connect what we offer back to solving your issues? (if gas prices/childcare/inflation are your concerns - how does that relate to the success of ISH or benefits or wellness or …??)
