What I Learned From a Hotel Room in Portland
I've been a member of the Agronomy, Crop, and Soil Science Societies for more than 15 years. Our annual meeting is one of the longest-running conferences on my calendar, and it's the kind of place where I can't walk five feet without running into someone I know.
This year in Portland, I barely saw anyone.
I got sick and spent three days in my hotel room. I picked up my registration badge on the last day, just before heading to the airport. Instead of sessions and hallway conversations, I watched two seasons of The West Wing, and then watched the midterm results come in, alone.
It wasn't the week I planned. But it taught me a few things I want to hold onto.
Preparation is a gift to your team
The sessions I was supposed to support went on without me, and they went well. That happened because we had prepared early, kept things organized, and built a team so nothing depended on one person.
A huge thank you to the colleagues who stepped in to moderate and support my sessions. This is exactly why we build systems: so that when life happens (and it always does), the important work keeps moving.
I want to be really good at what I do
It's hard to watch The West Wing and not be struck by how prepared and dedicated the staffers are. They know their issues cold, and they treat their work like it matters, because it does.
I will probably never be a White House staffer. I run a consulting firm made up largely of women raising young kids and supporting young families. We don't live in Washington, D.C. Our families and our lives are rooted elsewhere, and we love where we live.
But our work is still our way of serving our country, our communities, and the causes we care about. We may not be public servants in the traditional sense, but we take our roles just as seriously. We're here to support the important work our clients are doing, and we get to do it in a way that fits this season of our lives.
Investing in our people
As our team and our project list have grown, I've been thinking about how we protect time for learning. My commitment coming out of last week is to make sure every person on our team has dedicated time for professional development. That way, we show up every day knowledgeable, prepared, and ready to do high-quality work.
To our clients: thank you for the grace and patience you've shown us when timelines get tight. We don't do this work because we have nothing better to do. We do it because we care deeply about it, and because we've built a way of working that lets us do it well, for you and for our families.
The work continues, whoever is in power
We are soil scientists. We want to see the land protected, farmers supported, and our food grown sustainably. We are scientists. We want to see research funded and evidence used in policy.
Our path to those goals may look different from what you see on TV. But it's real, and it matters.
As the midterm results settle, here's what I know: we'll keep doing this work regardless of which party is in control, and regardless of where policies and programs land. We'll keep delivering high-quality work for our clients. And we'll keep helping you understand the political landscape, so you can make grounded decisions whatever the headlines say.
That's what making important work happen looks like.
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