This year, WJM celebrated its 30th birthday. We gathered clients, coaches, colleagues, and friends - people who have shaped the WJM community over three decades. There was laughter, storytelling, reconnecting, and the unmistakable energy that comes when people share the same room.
What struck me most about the event was that the celebration quickly became about something larger than the milestone itself. Again and again, people commented on how good it felt simply to be together. To talk side by side instead of screen to screen. To bump into someone unexpectedly. To continue a conversation in the hallway. To read expressions, hear laughter ripple across a table, and experience the kind of connection that only proximity creates.
It reminded me that one of the most basic human and professional needs is also one of the easiest to underestimate: proximity.
Not constant proximity. Not performative “face time.” But meaningful nearness to other human beings.
I saw this lesson again recently through a very different lens. My daughter just completed her first year of college. Like many first-year students, she entered excited but nervous. What surprised me most was how isolating modern college life can become outside the classroom. When students feel shy or uncertain, many retreat to their dorm rooms - and often deeper into their phones.
Then came finals week.
Suddenly, the campus transformed. Study groups formed. Students gathered late at night for food runs and exhausted conversations. Anxiety over exams mixed with anticipation for summer break. My daughter told me she laughed more that week than she had all year.
Why?
Not because finals were fun. Quite the opposite.
It was because proximity created connection.
Students were together - sharing stress, stories, and small moments. In one week of collective experience, she felt more connected to her school community than she had all year long.
That same truth exists in organizations.
Harvard Business Review and Wired Magazine continue to highlight the importance of informal interactions in workplace culture, collaboration, and leadership development. Studies on hybrid work environments note that while technology enables flexibility, something valuable is lost when people no longer share physical space: the spontaneous conversations, observational learning, and “weak ties” that fuel trust, innovation, and belonging.
Some of the most important professional development happens unintentionally.
It happens in hallway conversations after meetings.
It happens overhearing how leaders navigate difficult discussions.
It happens watching how experienced professionals carry themselves under pressure.
It happens through the small moments that rarely appear on calendars.
For younger professionals especially, proximity provides visibility into leadership itself - what leadership sounds like, looks like, and feels like in real time. Not theory. Not training modules. Witnessing. Observing. Absorbing.
Aspiration is often born through exposure.
This does not mean remote work lacks value. Flexibility matters. Technology matters. But we should be careful not to underestimate the developmental and cultural power of simply being near one another.
Proximity creates familiarity.
Familiarity builds trust.
Trust creates belonging.
And belonging fuels growth.
At WJM, thirty years of work has taught us that progress rarely happens in isolation. Coaching, leadership, development, and culture are all relational experiences. People grow faster when they are connected - to mentors, peers, ideas, and communities.
Maybe that is what we were really celebrating at our anniversary event.
Not only thirty years behind us, but the reminder that despite all our advances in communication technology, there is still no true substitute for human connection.
Sometimes growth begins with nothing more complicated than being in the room.
