Sunday Night With John: Welcome Back!

Welcome back, Welcome back, Welcome back!  This song, released in 2004 with a catchy beat and a memorable hook, is on my mind today. It announced the return of a musical artist who had left the business for a long time. It has very little to do with me, other than, it’s the ditty I sing in my head when I get the best compliment of all. This compliment is getting asked back by a school, organization, or group to do my talk again, or, a different talk in my stable. There is something about the second time that just resonates with us longer.

I had a college roommate who famously said, “Anything can happen once but two times means you are onto something.” It’s why we fret about getting a second date while we are on the first one. It’s why our imagination runs wild about our professional future when we get a call back after the interview. “Will this be the company and place where  we reach our full potential” is the thought running through our heads. Having a great night out with a new acquaintances is nice, but creating a new friend means the second and third hangout created a connection. It means we have value. It means we offer something to this person, company, or place that makes it better. At our core most of us strive to make life better for those around us, and, the more we get to do that the better we are as people.

So, while I was over the moon to be asked to speak in Tennessee for the first time at an education conference, I was even more excited about being able to hum the welcome back theme a couple of weeks ago, when I booked a  return to the State Conclave of DeMolay of Wisconsin. It’s well over the twentieth time I have been asked to return by a group. In the long road of life, in a world that never minds knocking you down, it’s the callbacks, the second dates, and getting to return that reminds us that we offer hope to others, that people find us great to be around, and that we are doing a lot more right than we are doing wrong. So I go into my summer tour of speaking excited about new places, but way more happy that I was found worthy to return to an old stomping ground. Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back!

Interested in booking me for a gig, shoot me an email at jpderryberry.com for your next event!