"Call Me" - The Power of a PLN

A number of weeks ago I participated in a twitter chat on Simon Sinek's book Start With Why .  We used the #startwithwhy hashtag.

The chat began like other Twitter chats I've participated in - a few questions, a flood of responses, and the subsequent sense of being totally overwhelmed (I have yet to master the art of Twitter chats!)

And then I noticed an odd tweet.....

It was a tweet from Simon Sinek himself.

Sinek was offering those that were interested, to call him directly on a conference call to answer some of our questions.

I have to admit, at first I didn't know what to make of the offer.  Was this some form of spam?  Was it a hoax?  Can this social media thing REALLY be trusted?

I ignored the tweet.

Two minutes later another tweet from Sinek.  It went something like: "I will only stay on the line for another minute if anyone is interested in connecting....."

Could it really be the author himself?

What did I have to lose?

I decided to call.

As it turned out, it was Simon Sinek.  Me and few other spoke for about 45 minutes about his book.  I expressed some of my "challenges" with determining a "why" in education - i.e. multiple stakeholders with  potentially differing agendas.  I wrote a post about it here.

Sinek added depth and clarification that only he, the author, could provide.

It was an incredible evening of conversation and discovery and has lead to to ongoing discussion and reflection with other colleagues

Many people talk about the power of connected and networked learning  in time of "abundance"  - this experience has done nothing but affirm this new reality and its omnipotence.

Thank you Simon Sinek.  Thank you for making yourself available and contributing to our network (even though it was so late in the evening in New York)

Thank you to my own learning network - for pushing and challenging me..

Thank you social media for providing the vehicle for such powerful connections.