The Power of Meaningful Conversations: My Motivation at Skoll 2025
- joy10727
- Apr 10
- 2 min read
We’ve all been there.
The mega-event you’ve been preparing for. Lanyards everywhere. Coffee queues. Name badges you can’t entirely read - even with glasses.
You find yourself face-to-face with someone who might be interesting. You smile, cue the elevator pitch, and mentally check off your talking points — because your boss expects you to come back with a stack of business cards and enough “prospects” to justify the trip.
You exchange cards. No spark. No substance. No real conversation. You move on.
I used to walk away from those moments feeling flat — not because I wasn’t collecting the right business card but because I was playing the part I thought I had to: a performer, a collector of contacts.
Then one day, I decided my boss wouldn’t rule the game anymore.
I started showing up ready to converse — to listen, connect, and offer something real: knowledge, empathy, and curiosity. It’s also easier now that I’m my own boss.
That one shift changed everything:
I did what I love most: meeting people, learning what moves them, and having sincere, joyful conversations.
I laughed more. I learned more. I even accomplished more.
The conversation that changed everything: At one conference, I was standing in a crowded coffee area when I struck up a conversation with a warm, approachable practitioner standing next to me. I wasn’t scanning her badge. I was just… present.
We discussed the challenges of disability inclusion and the state of affairs in the UK. That conversation led to laughter, shared challenges, and authentic learning. Later, I discovered she was the CEO of one of the UK’s largest funding organisations.
But because we connected as humans first, we uncovered a shared mission — and a desire to support each other’s work. She couldn’t attend an event I invited her to, but she sent two colleagues instead. That unstrategic, unscripted moment led to a partnership.
In my experience, real conversations are:
• Not a soft skill, but a superpower
• The difference between being heard and being felt
• Less about saying the right thing, more about asking the real thing
• Listening with presence, not just politeness
• Fueled by curiosity, not strategy
Most of all, show up as a person — to share your story and hear the stories of others.
Why It Matters:
We need spaces to generate ideas, share experiences, and support one another honestly. I’m grateful to the Skoll Foundation for creating such a space.
Today, I am diving into day two of the Skoll experience: I’m here to listen to what keeps people up at night and help in whatever way I can.
I’m also really looking forward to meeting you and the panelists at today’s panel at TheSidebar: "Breaking Silos, Building Systems: Cross-Sector Partnerships for Scalable, Sustainable Impact" (information here) at 11:00 am – 12 pm GMT, 14 Bonn Square, Oxford.
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