Leave home, leave the country, leave the familiar. Only then can routine experience- buying bread, eating vegetables, even saying hello-become new all over again. Anthony Doerr
When I stepped off the plane last week in Monterrey, Mexico, I immediately felt a sense of homecoming.
I’m here.
It feels so good to be back.
There was a time when I was in Mexico frequently. When I was an equity analyst, I covered several stocks in Mexico (America Movil, Telmex, Televisa, TV Azteca). Before that, as a banker, I had traveled throughout Mexico, Central, and South America. During my twenties, I served as a missionary in Uruguay. I was also born in Spain.
My children like to joke that I am part Spanish. I am not. But I love all things Hispanic.
I love listening to Spanish and speaking Spanish. There is something about speaking a different language that taps into a different part of ourselves, not just a different neural pathway, but a different part of our personality. I loved eating queso fundido (melted cheese with chorizo and chips) and street tacos during this trip. I introduced my colleague Erin to arrachera, a thinly sliced skirt steak with rice, beans, and guacamole. It was especially fun to wander the Parque Fundidora, a steel foundry turned urban park (I shared these photos on Instagram). And then, of course, there is the special moment during the book signings, where you get to connect 1-on-1 with conference attendees –– a little English, a little Spanish.
I didn’t always feel that way. I remember when I was 21 years old and first arrived in Uruguay. I couldn’t speak Spanish well (notwithstanding my high school language classes) and couldn’t understand a lick of what people were saying. Everything felt foreign. I felt displaced, awkward, and uncomfortable pretty much 24/7.
Until about eight months into that missionary experience, I was surrounded by people who only spoke Spanish. Finally, things shifted. I thought in Spanish, dreamed in Spanish, and forgot my English words. I moved into the Sweet Spot after a painful stretch on the Launch Point of a difficult learning curve, and the region and its people became a place and people I loved, so much that I started my career focused on Latin America.
Is there a place that now feels like home to you? Not necessarily where you were born or grew up, but a different place you moved to, where you went to school or worked for a while? I’m thinking of a place where you were initially very uncomfortable, but now you can’t imagine your life without that place, its people, your experiences, the food, and maybe even the language? Please share with us.
This week’s podcast is with Kelly Richmond-Pope, a forensic accountant, a professor at DePaul University, and an award-winning documentarian and filmmaker. Her documentary on the not-too-distant world of fraudsters and whistleblowers is called All the Queen’s Horses on Netflix. And now Kelly has a new book diving deep into that same world, Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry.
As always, thanks for being here!
My best,
Whitney
P.s. Interested in a surefire system for helping clients accelerate their individual growth while also becoming a catalyst for organizational growth? If so, get Smart Growth certified. Learn more.
