Texas- Tommy Boy With Tie Dyes.
Texas is vast. You can drive 18 hours and still not see the end of it, yet no road feels long with good company, especially on a work trip.
It asks for time, and if you give it that, it gives something back that a tight schedule never will, the clarity to slow down, close the laptop, talk less, and actually listen
Last week, my colleague Julie and I traded airports for highways and spent close to ten hours in a car together. Over five different client meetings there were no laptops opened, no presentations given, just conversation that had the space to go where it needed to go. Somewhere along the journey work stopped sounding like work and started sounding like what it actually is, people trying to solve real problems, in real time, without overcomplicating it.
We met across meals instead of across boardroom tables, and so without trying too hard, the work got better. Texas had a way of reinforcing that. It does not overexplain itself. In between meetings and miles, life showed up. Car speakerphone calls with our kids’ teachers and eager landscapers remind you how much is happening beyond the work for everyone. Sitting there, listening to each other have nearly identical conversations in different voices, it was hard not to realize that we are all walking the same field, just from different directions.
A Texas road and endless sky gives you space to see that.
Ted’s Top 5 Things He Learned:
In parts of Texas your dog can run away and you can watch it for three days.
If you have two hours in between meetings, shut of your screens and see a local museum. The Fort Worth Modern Art Museum was fantastic. Great idea Julie.
Dallas is Bougie. It just casually orders the most expensive thing on the menu and assumes you are doing the same.
Texas Bar B Que is very good,... if it just had some sauce it would be as great as Kansas City’s.
If you split the 10 hours of driving and you both only offered ‘minimal’ critiques of each other’s parking, acceleration and tailgating,... you did pretty well.
Texas, with its long roads and refusal to be rushed, turned out to be the perfect backdrop to remind us that sometimes the best thing you can do for the work is slow down and be there for it all together. We spend too much time on what’s urgent and not enough on what’s important. Less scrolling, more driving.
Trip Quote:
“Hi Julie, I’m calling from your son’s school. We have a bit of scheduling conflict today” - A teacher on the car speaker phone.
“Ok what’s up?”- Julie
“Well, it seems he’s signed up for the Tie Dye making activity after school but he also has golf practice at the same time. What would you like me to do?”- Teacher at school.
“Sigh,,.. Can you just Tie Dye his golf shirt real quick and then send him out on the course in it?- Julie
