What’s Your Answer When I Ask This Question?

One of the best parts of running our Ticket to Biotech communicator community is all of the cool conversations I get to have, with very cool people.

I’d say about 90% of the people I talk to on any given day are folks who wouldn’t be in my orbit if it weren’t for T2B.

When I meet someone for the first time, one of my usual questions before I dive into T2B is to ask where you’re at right now – what’s important to you, what your goals are, what’s on your mind.

The funny thing about most of us communicators is that, most of the time, the answer I get revolves around the companies people are working at or for.

I continue to find it fascinating that the roles we have as communicators are so embedded – so ingrained in us, and so core to who we are – that we’re always thinking about how WE can better ourselves to serve the goals of others.

Of course I want T2B to be a place where we can collectively learn from each other and apply new ways of thinking and new resources to our day-to-day jobs.

But what I also want is for members of our community to think a little more about themselves: What are YOUR ideas? YOUR questions? YOUR concerns?

Not your company’s. Not your clients’. YOURS.

Taking the time to reflect, check in with ourselves, and nurture relationships beyond the surface level makes us better communicators — especially in a field like the life sciences that’s super complex yet requires abundant empathy.

This is somewhat of a mindset shift that I hadn’t expected to play a hand in helping to guide for our profession, but I’ve embraced it.

So, the next time I ask you about your goals, what will your answer be?