This is your call to talk to someone new and different. Explore “third places.” Take a new route. Mix it all up with some friends who are different than you. Some of my best ideas and most fun moments come from flowers of a different bunch.

It makes so much sense that I should love cross pollination…

In nature, insects (often bees!), wind, and certain birds and bats apply pollen from one flower to another. According to Brittanica, they “combine the hereditary traits of both parents, and the resulting offspring generally are more varied than would be the case after self-pollination. In a changing environment, the genetic variability within a cross-pollinated population may enable some individuals to be adapted to their new situation, ensuring survival of the species….” Don’t we all need to adapt?

Especially since I left academia, I’ve loved the opportunities to collaborate across sectors and disciplines. At City Year, I got to learn and work with members of the marketing and communications team, for instance. I discovered that we took similar approaches to research and statistics—we just used different terminology. They segmented data and created personas and profiles, and I used person-oriented approaches and cluster analyses. Tomato/tomahto. At one point, I started a City Year data analysts’ affinity group, when I realized that multiple departments had folks in data analyst roles who all shared common challenges. We shared solutions and resources and felt stronger together.

This is one reason why I love my coworking space, The Village Works (TVW). I’m surrounded by coworkers in different fields, and through proximity (and the welcoming environment that TVW creates), we support each other (e.g., sharing feedback and resources on presentation slides, logic models, ideas for teaching, and ice breakers; offering tips about ChatGPT and other software; and exchanging advice on how to handle relationships with clients and job searches). So many of us work or volunteer within or with nonprofits, that we started a monthly Social Impact Lunch group. Sometimes we chit chat and get to know new TVW members, and sometimes members offer talks about their work.

And friends! Friends are among the best bees. I’m constantly delighted to find unexpected connections. Who knew how much internal evaluators and lawyers serving as in-house counsel had in common, or how much I’d admire my real estate agent as a woman in business, building lasting relationships in an authentic way, or how one of my dearest friends, who worked in banking and finance, could fully commiserate about spreadsheets, data integrity, data viz, and so much more?!

Not to mention how much I love parallel play/work, buzzing near others like this NYT article describes. That’s not quite cross pollination but sometimes leads to it. Which reminds me that tomorrow is the first International Day of Play!

How will you play, connect, and cross pollinate?