003 - Connection, Community, & Cranberry Sauce
Why am I thinking so much about loneliness? Am I ok?
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!
Today’s inspo:
This Thanksgiving finds me in a reflective mood, fresh off the whole wedding thing(s), spending time as a plus-one at Mallory’s company all-hands, and just a few days before hosting the Major Futures Partner Summit. Basically just acutely aware - and insanely grateful for - those invisible threads of community that bind us together, and the relationships that matter.
It’s also gotten me thinking about the paradox that would be almost laughable if it weren't so deeply troubling: we're more technologically connected than ever, yet loneliness has become an epidemic. The numbers are brutal. What was 1 in 3 adults feeling lonely in 2021 has now ballooned to nearly 40% of Americans.
More than one in five report that loneliness is a daily reality, and I believe it to be - even as someone who identifies as an optimist - one of the leading contributors to the cultural darkness and global chaos that we find ourselves in.
So… if we can’t just, ya know, *get married* every month to feel community, what can we do about it?
Thinking About That Whole Remote Work Thing
In my time consulting with other leaders, and helping run Major Futures, I've watched this paradox play out in real-time, particularly in the remote work landscape. Exploring that connection - between remote work and company culture / employee engagement / general happiness / etc etc… - is not new (and I won’t do it here), but it is worth surfacing, because it's something that we've championed.
Major Futures would not exist without the cultural acceptance of remote work. It allows us the ability to recruit and sell globally, keep real estate costs basically non-existent, and offer the flexibility and freedom that we can. But it’s not without cost.
Remote workers as a group report feeling lonely almost twice as often as on-site employees. We've optimized for efficiency, but are we contributing to that chaos and darkness?
Now in its third edition, our Partner Summit has become one of my absolute favorite weeks of the year. It's a rare moment when our distributed group is all together in person, in New York. Often the first time we've been in the same physical space all year.
What a privilege to facilitate and feel those moments of genuine connection that can never be fully replicated on a screen or through headphones.
As much as our Summit is a time to reflect on the state of the business and share strategy for the coming year — it's also a deliberate act of community building. It’s in the in between of the programming where the magic happens. A conversation over coffee. A laugh during dinner. A project spark during a break.
These are the moments humans live for, and it’s what technology can't replicate. It’s what transforms work - or any context - from a transaction to a relationship.
Your colleagues don’t have to be your friends, but work should feel like a place where belonging matters.
The data backs up our intuition. A 2024 KPMG survey revealed that 91% of employees believe workplace friendships are crucial to mental well-being, and 80% are desperately seeking more authentic connection. This isn't just about making work more pleasant—it's about kindness.
Thinking About Why Community Matters
For Major Futures, combating loneliness isn't a side project. It's central to how we operate. If we want to be a home for top “free agent” service-providing talent, it’s arguably the most valuable challenge for us to overcome. Put another way: our competition in recruiting is freelancing.
An anonymous team survey from earlier this year confirmed what we'd suspected: more collaboration and connection was the biggest thing our partners crave more of. Even in a world where communication takes just a few taps on a screen, it’s not enough. Genuine human interaction is more than an iMessage or a Slack channel or a Trello board.
And we preach this outside of our own walls. When we work with clients, we're not just delivering services. We're modeling (or, trying to… at least) an approach to work and to brand-building that prioritizes human connection and strong relationships.
In an era of increasing isolation driven by technology, we believe that the brands building for moments of relationship building - beyond what’s transactional - will win.
Thinking About What’s Next
Community doesn't build itself. Relationships don’t spin up out of thin air. It's the result of countless small, intentional choices to care, to include, to reach out.
I’ll admit, there are many times in the last decade where I’ve been too close-minded, too judgmental, too self-righteous. This is my mea culpa. This problem is too big to ignore.
In a world where 40% of adults are wrestling with loneliness, every act of genuine connection - of meeting people where they are - is a radical act of resistance.
This Thanksgiving, I'm profoundly grateful. Grateful for a team that brings not just expertise, but humanity. Grateful for a wife and partner who understands the power of community, and inclusion, and relationships. Grateful for all of you reading this, and for anyone trying to just be a little bit better tomorrow than they were yesterday.
Connections matter. Community matters. And in nurturing these relationships, we do more than just great work, we build longer tables.