A few weeks ago I was invited by Jeff Tetz to speak at BEx: the Business Execution Summit hosted by the team at Results in Kananaskis.
For more than a decade they’ve been bringing together business leaders for a few days of strategy, learning, and connection in the mountains. There’s something about stepping away from the office, the city, and the usual routines that changes the quality of conversations.
This year the theme of the summit was connection.
It’s a topic that has fascinated me for most of my life.
My grandfather used to talk about it often when I was young. We’d sit on the deck at Pigeon Lake, usually during happy hour, rum & coke in one hand, pellet gun in another, and he would share his perspective on life.
One thing he said always stuck with me.
“If you want your life to be incredible, surround yourself with incredible people.”
He would often reflect on the many experiences he had been fortunate to have: travel, achievements, business successes, but he was clear about something. None of those things were what gave his life meaning.
It was the people he shared those experiences with.
Over the course of a few days at the Pomeroy Kananskis Mountain Lodge, the 300 or so attendees at BEx certainly lived up to the conference theme. It’s hard not to feel connected when you’re surrounded by mountain air, moonlit skies, and the kind of environment that invites people to slow down a little.
Despite appearances, my closest friends know that I’m actually a bit of a lone wolf. I don’t particularly enjoy traditional networking events and large crowds aren’t naturally my thing.
Unless I’m on stage.
Jeff encouraged everyone attending to take the opportunity to meet someone new and go a little deeper in conversation than we normally might.
On the final evening after dinner, I was ready to call it a night when I ran into Bob Willows.
Bob and I have known each other for years, but we had never really had a deep conversation. For whatever reason, we stopped and started talking outside the ballroom with a crowd of people moving around us.
What followed was one of those conversations that you don’t forget.
Bob shared some personal experiences. I shared a few of mine. It was honest, thoughtful, and unexpectedly profound. The kind of exchange that reminds you how much depth there is in people if we’re willing to take a moment and go beyond the usual small talk.
In business we’re constantly encouraged to “network.”
Most of us don’t love it.
Another event. Another handshake. Another surface-level conversation over rubber chicken.
But my grandfather had another piece of advice that I’ve carried with me over the years.
“If you want to meet incredible people, you have to meet a lot of them.”
And he also believed something else.
When you enter a conversation, ask yourself two questions:
What can I learn?
How can I help?
Most people enter conversations with different questions in mind.
What can I get? Is this worth my time?
When your mindset shifts, something interesting happens.
Conversations become more genuine. People open up. Unexpected connections appear.
And occasionally, you walk away from a conversation that reminds you why relationships matter in the first place.
In the end, long after the business cards are gone and the conferences are over, it won’t be the events or the accolades that stay with us.
It will be the people we met along the way.