Hello. It’s Me, the Name Badge.
Hello. It’s me, the name badge.
Don't worry, I know how this works. You'll stick my plastic sleeve to your shirt, I’ll dutifully display your name and title, and for the next eight hours, I will be your professional costume.
I’ve dangled from a thousand lanyards. I’ve seen it all. The nervous scan of a room, the beeline for the most important-looking person, the exchange of business cards that are really just polite ways of saying, "Let me see if you're useful to me later."
I am a prop in the great theatre of networking. And at the end of the show, I know my destiny: the hotel bin, right next to the abandoned coffee cups and crumpled napkins. My existence is temporary, and frankly, a little bit cynical.
But recently, something changed. I was different. I wasn't smooth, shiny plastic. I was thick, textured paper. And I had a secret. Tucked inside my recycled fibers were the tiny, dormant seeds of a Swan River Daisy.
I wasn't a prop anymore. I was a promise. I wasn’t destined for the bin; I was destined for a garden. And from that moment, I understood the great lie of networking and the simple truth of the wildflower.
Here's what I learned …
1. Not every connection is a harvest.
A wildflower doesn't try to produce fruit you can sell. It just blooms. Its purpose is to add a little beauty and resilience to the world. The best conversations I witnessed weren't the ones aimed at a business deal. They were the shared laugh in the coffee queue, the compliment on a pair of shoes, the discovery of a mutual love for hiking. Stop trying to harvest every interaction. Just let things bloom.
2. Real growth requires nurturing.
You can't just throw a seed on the ground and expect a flower. It needs soil, sun, and water. A five-minute conversation at a conference is just the planting. The real relationship grows later, with the follow-up email that says, "Great chatting with you," the shared article, the check-in six months down the line. Don't blame the seed if you don't water it.
3. Your purpose can be bigger than your title.
For years, I thought my job was to display a name and a company. But as a plantable badge, I realized my purpose wasn't just to identify, but to become something more. To be a story, a memory, a little patch of beauty. The same is true for you. You are more than your job title. You are a collection of ideas, passions, and stories. The moment you lead with those, the real connections happen.
