I just came back from a conference with over 800 people who do exactly what I do all over the world it was pretty cool there were some great speakers and really good breakout sessions and all of that but the thing I most got out of being there was being around people who are similar to myself who fa similar challenges and as a part of a group in sessions they knew even though they might have been from a completely different country or place they could relate to things that I go through in my day-to-day life in my work and career life and it didn't matter how long I knew them we'd start talking and I just immediately would feel connected and could share stories and could learn from them and they could learn from me um I share this because many times in any role in any position in any company we feel lonely um and not connected to others and don't see um what could be and I don't normally talk about what I do and why I do it with peer groups but it was a really good reminder of why I do what I do leading peer groups having a group of peers who while their backgrounds may be different the places they live be very different I was talking to Australia and China chairs right but there's common bonds and similarities of issues and challenges and opportunities that one faces you can learn so much with the different backgrounds and experiences and yet some commonalities and uh it really reminded me and invigorated me to remember why I do what I do leading groups of peers who connect with one another on that level and share with with one another based on their different backgrounds and experiences and make each other better and if in just a short couple of days I could do that with people that I've never known in my life um from all different backgrounds then how amazing it is when you get a solid group of people that you can connect to like that over and over again um that can make a difference in your life so it was really interesting and amazing experience to kind of jump into my memb shoes and experience what they experience on a regular basis being surrounded by Pierce with completely different backgrounds and experiences and yet so many similarities at the same time