Friendship Isn't Magic: Jessica Gifford, Founder, ProjectConnect

Jessica Gifford grew up in a tiny community of hippies, peace activists, and draft dodgers who built their own one-room schoolhouse. From kindergarten through eighth grade she was with the same 15 kids, so she never learned how to meet people. Her fix came at college: become the RA. It's easier to create the community you want than to break into one that already exists.

Years later, as a social worker on college campuses, a survey crossed her desk showing loneliness rates off the charts. What they were doing wasn't working. So she built ProjectConnect, a program now used by more than 100 organizations, on the idea that friendship isn't magic. Jessica boils it down to three practices: sharing, caring and repairing. And the conditions matter: an hour of icebreakers between strangers who never see each other again is, in her word, pointless.

Jessica's newest program is a 30-day challenge of acts of social courage. Do the awkward thing on purpose, because awkwardness is often the first step to connection.

Over at the Chamber, Aaron and Charlotte workshop the Chamber's new message out loud, and Aaron previews Pickle at the Palms, where his Oura ring ruled that a pickleball session had earned him a couple of extra desserts.

00:00 Welcome to How We Connected

06:17 Sharpening the Chamber's Message

14:18 Meet Jessica Gifford

16:35 From Social Work to Project Connect

22:15 The Arthur Aron Aha Moment

25:50 Six Conditions for Connection

31:16 What Makes an Organization Invest

36:29 Advice for Leaders