This episode of It's Going to be Okay is presented by the Hartford.
The Hartford is a leading group benefits provider that's simplifying the language for employee benefits.
They're tired of seeing the insurance industry use terms and phrases that are more complicated than they need to be.
Aren't you?
Learn more at the Hartford.com slash benefits.
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I'm Nora McInerney and it's going to be okay.
One of my jobs is as a speaker.
I definitely would not call myself a motivational speaker for obvious reasons, but I'm a demotivational speaker, perhaps.
I'm not going to come to your business or your conference and give people top 10 tips for productivity.
I have zero life hacks.
All my talks are titled things like terrible.
Thanks for asking or better than fine.
And you know what?
I might be a tough sell for the wrong crowd, but I know that I'm actually very good at this and hands down.
The very best part of doing that job is that I get to meet all kinds of people from all over the country that I would never, ever in a million years have the chance.
I used to do this job exclusively in person, which meant that I would get on a plane and arrive in a new city and meet an entirely new group of people with entirely different careers and lives in the one I have.
And then COVID happened and this job existed mostly online, where instead of looking people in the eye and having intense conversations in the hotel ballroom when I'm done, I would look myself in the eye on a Zoom call and have intense conversations via Zoom chat.
But travel is back and I got to travel to a city halfway across the country to meet with a professional organization dedicated to the invisible work of making society work.
This sounds dark.
Sounds like it was the Illuminati, which I've been accused of being a member of, which was flattering.
It was not the Illuminati as far as I know, but then again, that is exactly what the Illuminati wants you to think.
But from what this organization told me, this was a professional organization that comprises all the kinds of jobs you don't notice until something goes wrong, making sure the trash gets picked up, that the streetlights work, the electricity and water systems work.
These are the kinds of jobs I just didn't really think about in the same way that these people did not think about the jobs that I do either.
And this, by the way, is my favorite kind of person to meet, a person with a job or a life so different from mine that I just can't imagine what their days look like.
If you are an accountant, I want to sit next to you at a dinner table in the imaginary universe where I'm invited to dinner parties.
I really do.
I want to know exactly what you do all day and how you do it.
My accountant knows that I love him and I am fascinated by him and his brain because when we end our calls, I have more than once accidentally told him, I love you and Mike, I do.
So my job in situations like this is to stand on the stage, deliver the talk that the client has ordered from me, take some audience questions if they have any, and usually I'm back in the airport a few hours after I step off stage, but this trip had a weird flight schedule
and I had extra time, which I could have spent at the germ factory, also knows the airport, but then in attendee asked if I would like to join the group for lunch.
And I decided, yes, I would like that very much.
And I followed him into a hotel conference room filled to the max with round tables set for 10, little salads and desserts at every seat, a glass of both ice water and iced tea for every guest.
And then I realized that it wasn't just a lunch, it was an awards lunch.
This professional organization with, they announced 1200 members was having an annual award ceremony and I was a guest.
And at the front of the room, there was a table of trophies of various sizes and the program began.
During the salad course, they announced scholarships for children whose parents were a part of this organization and we all applauded for the 18 year olds who had already decided to spend their lives in public service.
Then came the anniversary awards where men and women who had worked in the field for 20 or 30 years walked to the front of the room to thunderous applause.
There was only one award for having served 35 years and the honoree had died just before the conference.
And so his daughter who couldn't have been older than 35 herself walked up to the stage and received her father's trophy for all the days and the nights he had spent taking care of and worrying about and serving his community.
And so I was so happy that the entire room stood up and clapped and the people on stage all hugged her and held her and people wiped their eyes.
And so did I, because I still have no idea what exactly any of these people do for work or what their days look like but there is something so wonderful about being in a room of people so deeply connected to one another through their work and their humanity.
And so I was so grateful about the celebration of another person's accomplishments about applauding and cheering and acknowledging another person's work, even if you have no idea who they are or really what they do.
And so I was so happy that to be a part of a group, even just for a luncheon, to give a standing ovation to any person for any reason, like just do it to stand up and clap and let the sound of your hands meeting join in that cacophony to let out a whoop if the spirit moves you and it did move me to join the celebration for someone else's win.
That's my round of applause. That's my round of applause for you, for anything you've done that you feel good about, for anything that I forgot to celebrate of yours, or something that I just didn't know that you were celebrating.
That's for you. That's for us.
I'm Nora McNerny, and it's going to be okay.
The IT is going to change. It's going to change every day. What that IT is is different for me than it is for you, and I want to hear yours. So call us at 612-568-4441 or email us at iGTBO at Feelingsand.co.
We are an independent production. Feelings and Co is a little independent production studio, make and podcast. We also make terrible things for asking.
If you want to support our work, you can share this with a friend. You can rate and review it. You can share it with an enemy.
Our team at Feelings and Co is Marcel Malakiwu, Jordan Turgin, Megan Palmer, Claire McNerny, Larissa Witcher, and Eugene Kidd.
Our theme music is by Secret Audio. All right, I'll see you tomorrow.
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This episode of It's Going to Be Okay was brought to you by the Hartford.
Have you ever signed up for employee benefits and then not actually use them because you didn't know how to use them?
The Hartford is trying to change that. Their leading group benefits provider that's tired of seeing the insurance industry use terms and descriptions that normal people like us don't understand.
They're simplifying benefits language, making it clearer, making it more concise.
That way workers and families can find protection that actually fits their needs.
Learn more at the Hartford.com slash benefits.