Mathieu Yuill:
Hi, everybody, and happy New Year. My name is Mathieu Yuill And I’ve released this video on January 5th of 2021, and the reason I’m releasing it this day is because it’s actually my dad’s birthday. And my dad, unfortunately, passed away unexpectedly a number of years ago, but he left behind some really great lessons, often taught just by the way he lived his life. And I want to share with you a great lesson he taught me and I think it was so good for 2021. It’s actually one of my favourite John Yuill stories.
Mathieu Yuill:
Well, back in the mid-2000s, I was doing a lot of tech journalism. I wrote for a number of print publications and was on TV and Monica [Roddy 00:00:48], who’s a PR professional whose professionalism is only matched by her character, invited me to come and speak with Hal Bryan, who was the Microsoft Flight Simulator Community Evangelist. And I said, “Sure, I’d love to have a conversation with him and do a story or two.”
Mathieu Yuill:
I mentioned it to my father because he’s a big fan of flight simulators. When he retired, he bought his first computer and bought a bunch of flight simulators because he was an amateur pilot, had his pilots license, had plane models, t-shirts with planes, the whole gambit and I thought he’d be interested to know that I was going.
Mathieu Yuill:
Now, because he loved flight simulators and he knew this new Microsoft Flight Simulator was coming out, he said, “Hey, do you mind if I come along?” Well, Monica said it would be okay and I thought it’d be neat for my dad to sit and watch his son ply his trade and I could show off a little bit in front of my dad about how great of an interviewer I was.
Mathieu Yuill:
But around 20 minutes into my half an hour segment, my dad nudged me and said, whispered, “Hey, do you mind if I ask a few questions?” And it totally caught me off guard. I didn’t expect him to say anything. And Hal Bryan, the Community Evangelist, he said, “Sure. I’d love to hear from your dad.” And my dad’s first question was, “Hey, have you ever thought about introducing some World War Two fighter planes into Microsoft Flight Simulator?”
Mathieu Yuill:
And Hal’s response was just enormous. He was very excited. He was already an animated character, but he came alive at this question. And lo and behold, Monica, about 40 minutes later, said, had to say, “Guys, I’m sorry, we’re already half an hour behind, but I could tell you we’re having a great time, but we really have to end this conversation.” Hal took an extra half an hour, just … well, 40 minutes total, just talking to my dad.
Mathieu Yuill:
Now, the rest of the day, and actually for years later, my dad spoke about how great of a conversation that was. And when he passed, I just messaged Monica to say, “This is a really big part of my dad’s life and that day stuck with him in his memory for a long time, so thank you for that.”
Mathieu Yuill:
Well, she wrote back to say, “Hal, that evening and that day couldn’t stop talking about it.” And even in weeks and months later, he would bring it up and mention it and talk about how great a conversation that was, and the lesson it taught me with this. If you can find common ground or a shared interest, I just want to encourage you to share that or to enter into conversation with that topic with that person. And the reason why I think it’ll be so great for 2021 is after the year we’ve had, we’re so longing for connection.
Mathieu Yuill:
They say the cure for depression isn’t anything more than great connection. And what my dad taught me that day was even if you have a small interest to share that same interest with the person you think has that interest, and you never know what might happen. For years, both these two men and had great memories of that 40 minute interaction. And it clearly made a big impact on my dad’s life, and from what I understand, it made an impact on Hal’s life as well.
Mathieu Yuill:
So for 2021, I just want to encourage you, that person, that coworker, that colleague, that neighbour that you notice or you’ve seen, “Hey, we kind of have a shared interest.” I just want to encourage you to share that fact with that person and it’ll lead to connection, which is always a good thing. So happy 2021. Happy birthday, dad, I miss you. And everybody else, have a great day.