This post is NOT about Quiet Quitting

The last two weeks I took a break from ranting about engineering management topics to talk about Minecraft and World of Warcraft. I apologize if you were uninterested in my foaming-at-the-mouth word spray. Fistbumps for the rest of you!

I really want to write an article about the whole Quiet Quitter phenomenon. I am fascinated by it to say the least. I started my career deep in the throes of the dotcom “revolution”, and I was snorting nosefuls of meritocracy powder and flexing boldly every day. There is at least one of you reading this right now with an energy enhancing product in one hand, reaching for some kind of hustle culture totem to ward off the mean man’s words in the other.

Good news! I am not going to make today’s rant about that.

Today I am going to talk about one of the few things I miss about being in the office.

I miss taking people on a walking one-on-one.

I was surprised how much I like having one-on-one meetings with people. There is a good mix of learning and teaching happening at the same time if you do them well. Today we are not going to talk about your standard one-on-ones.

In 2003 I was blessed with several coworkers who enjoyed going out for midday walks. We would cover a lot of ground in these walks, both physically and mentally. It was the first time I held a leadership role at the director level, and I struggled with some aspects of it.

To say that these walks were helpful and therapeutic were an understatement. I do not know that I gave the people on my team enough thanks for getting me started on the habit.

There is just something really special about a long, meaningful conversation while walking around. Something something health benefits, amirite? Setting those aside, the breadth and depth of the conversation changes when you get outside the formal meeting room environment and just talk to people.

I am sure there is more scientific mumbo jumbo out there to back up why this is important. I would search out a good book on Amazon and link it here for you, but you and I both know that you wouldn’t click on it. Jeff Bezos is almost as disappointed as I am.

All I will say is that while I am the President of the Work From Home fanclub, and have been hard at it for many more years than most people, this is one of the things I miss.

If you are back in the office and want to do something different for one of your next one-on-one meetings, I heartily recommend suggesting going outside for a nice afternoon walk.

Thanks for reading along. This is a little short today. I am back from a week of travel with the family and it is hard to write thinky thoughts on the heels of hours of sitting in a minivan with a large assortment of children. We will return next week with more SrS BzNz posts. I do not think any of them will be about Quiet Quitting either.