Community C6

Photo credit: www.spaceforgiants.org

This morning we had our first alumnae get-together of the C6. Cohort 6 of ReacHIRE Boston. I wish I had come up with that cute acronym but alas, it was one of the other 9 women who make up the C6.  Oh all right, it is also the cute name of a risk intelligence company, a Corvette and possibly also a spinal nerve. I hope it's the last one so then we have a motto that goes like this "C6! You are getting on my last nerve!" Or not.

We completed the ReacHIRE training program and graduated in mid-December. It seems like a million years ago yet yesterday. I admit it's been hard to go from seeing these great ladies every week, mostly twice a week, to now once-a- month reunions. We do talk through slack or email or Linked In every few days but it's not the same as meeting up in a training partner company's kitchen to figure out the coffee machine (or fix it by leaping on top of the counter like one of us did), trading commute stories, or puzzling over homework issues. 

In a way, an 8-week program like ReacHIRE is very much like a micro-mini MBA. A nano-MBA plus software engineering. Yes, we worked through cases, we were one with the excel tables, and we had to present findings in front of others. But most of all, a program such as this one gives you the ultimate gift: the people.

I was reminded of my MBA program today--Kellogg full-time, X years ago where X exceeds 10. See, it's all math all the time with me. I got a note from a friend from my first MBA group telling me he was safe in Istanbul after an explosion had gone off in that city. Now I don't see this friend very often--possibly the last time in person was in 2001 when he got married in Italy two weeks after 9/11. But he is a person that I know my husband (also a Kellogg alum) and I each could count on for anything. 

Because yes, my husband and I met at our MBA, and married 5 years after graduation. We attended several Kellogg weddings all over the world, and keep in touch with a (dwindling but still real) number of our colleagues. They are the ones who accompanied us changing from "hey, whatever" undergrads to driven business folks, whether we worked in consulting, non-profit, or wherever life took us.

And here we are a different cohort, the 10 of us. We are changing from stay-at-home moms, or volunteer mavens, back to the "working world." Just like my MBA experience, I find that each of us is very different with diverse life experiences including terrible health scares, love and loss, and along the way, satisfying corporate careers that we left some time ago. Or seemingly just a while ago. 

Where we are similar is that we all want back in, and want to help each other back in. The very essence of this program. I would say that these are the women who change Madeline Albright's famous quote of "there's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women" to be more positive. Perhaps there's a special place in heaven for those who do. 

So today we got together for two hours of laughing and catching up and sharing, as well as positive encouragement as we continue our search for the right job or project.  Oh yes, and blueberry muffins--not bad there at the Newton Marriott.  We shared our doubts and insecurities, and the elation of one woman of the group who is back in the saddle. 

So here's the root of the root of this blog post, which is more serious than most. If you are out of work, or changing your mind about what you are doing, don't get on Linked In. Sorry, millenials, but here I want you to listen to me. Get out of your house. Find a group of people who are like you, and unlike you, but actually like you (did you follow that?) and get out with them. Share. Listen. Learn. Laugh. Ideas flow (yes, we just now need a product for the C6 to take off as its own company ;)) and insights too. 

After two hours of chatting and trading stories and news, we bundled up in our winter coats and walked out into the biting wind.  We'll be together again in three weeks sharing what's new or what's not. It is the best confidence-builder ever. Community.  Do not underestimate its power.