Yesterday I was on the phone with Verizon for the 17th million time. I was frustrated beyond belief. I felt like I needed a Ph.D. just to gain access to my account and set up auto-pay.

Long story short. I got on a phone call with a lovely representative, who not only empathized deeply with me but was incredibly patient and helpful.

She not only lopped off a few sheckles from my bill, waived my late fee, but I now understand how to access my records, and automate my payments.

But the real magic came when she heard I am from NYC. What started as a simple “Oh I’ve been wanting to take my daughter to NYC to see Lady Liberty turned into a whole conversation about her daughter’s love affair, with history, art, and her lifelong goal

(she’s 14) to be a forensic anthropologist. Her daughter actually asked for a model of a skeleton for her birthday, yup your traditional, “Can I get a new party dress, video game, or life-size skeleton for my birthday?” From there we had a whole conversation around mentoring young brilliant minds, gender bias, culture messages, and the top 10 places to visit in NYC when she and her family come from Dallas to visit next winter.

What started off as a buzzkill of a call that I was dreading, ended up, 1 hour later feeling energized and hopeful and excited about the future generations to come, the love of making a difference for someone else, and most of all the power of conversation.

Check out this amazing Ted Talk https://teamstrength.com/celeste-headlee-ted-talk-10…/

When we have more compelling, interesting, and connected conversations we transform ourselves, each other and the world around us!