I recently attended an event at a place called MaRS, in Toronto. “MaRS” stands for Medical and Related Sciences, and absolutely falls outside of my area of expertise. As a film major turned turned sales manager, turned entrepreneur focused on leadership development, “medicine & science” are not topics I explore regularly. But the MaRS buildings are awesome and, as an amateur lover of architect, I signed up for a public seminar recently… mostly just to have a reason to be in the building. (As it turns out, you don’t need a reason – it’s a public building accessible to all, and worth dropping into if you’re in Toronto).
The best personality trait I can recommend when exploring a foreign field is curiosity. Knowing virtually nothing about medicine, I found myself asking a lot of questions. People would ask me questions in return and I found the discussions to be fascinating. I was revisiting “basic” leadership concepts that I’ve held for years and likewise, the basic science questions that I was asking seemed to spark excitement from those who spend their life in the space. Connecting with new people is exciting, particularly when you (both) have a chance to educate the other on your point of passion. I’ll be heading back to MaRS, and wonder what other avenues there are to meet impassioned people… outside of my personal area of focus.
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