Who would you most like to have a 121 with?

As much as I like group activities, I have to say my most natural state of interaction is one on one. I don't think this has so much to do with the fact I'm a little shy, it's more that I feel I get so much more out of a one to one; I see a facet of the person I'd otherwise miss, and vice versa.

Whenever I think of one 2 ones I remember this mobile phone ad with Kate Moss, it's 12 years old and she seems so different from who she is now (aren't we all?). She was all Johnny Depp and freckles, and these days I'm afraid to say I find her just a tiny bit rough - nothing to do with her age you understand - more to do with this image of a chain-smoking, coke snorting, bleached out It Girl.



I decided to write about this as the other day I had a really nice unexpected one to one with someone. It was actually with a director in my company, someone who is a little gruff and in your face and not afraid to be tough with you. He told me how brave he thought I had been in a particular situation unrelated to work, and how he perhaps couldn't have coped under the same circumstances. I was so touched that this person had even noticed my predicament, let alone admired my ability to cope with it. It was a little moment that cut through all our day to day pretending and posturing and portraying the right image.  That's what I like about one to ones.

And who would I most like to have a 121 with? I'm not sure to be honest. Hundreds of names come to mind; Mandela, Darwin, Cleopatra, Rumi... I even wonder what it would be like to have a 121 with my mum aged 20 or myself aged 60! But deep down I know the most insiring 121s are likely to come from people I already know, those in my outer circle, those I barely know and those who are yet to come into my life - and the thought of all the moments we might share is quite heartening :-)