We’re Making Conversations about human connection Count!
We’re going to learn the difference between talking to people and making a real human connection with them!
Episode 98 with Simone Heng.
Watch the trailer for this episode that’s all about making human connection
Here’s how you can make real human connection
(Table of contents)
- Listen now via your favourite app
- Who is Simone Heng
- Human connection with social media beginnings
- That talk at Google
- Keeping your head down and staying safe
- Loneliness is always seeking engagement instead of the human connection
- Simone’s human connection challenge
- Simone’s conversation that counts
- Wendy’s takeaway
- Simone’s links and goodies
Listen now via your favourite app
Making Conversations Count is available in all podcast apps including:
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Who is Simone Heng and what does she know about human connection?
Simone Heng’s passion for human connection is obvious.
And she’s a master of taking people offline to build deeper, more meaningful relationships that last forever.
And that’s exactly why she’s the perfect guest for this show.
As you know, this is a huge part of what Wendy Harris does during her sales and marketing training sessions.
Like Simone, she understands the importance of applying a touch of real life to all conversations, as quickly as possible.
That’s why this conversation is one which will stick with listeners for some time to come.
And particularly when you understand Simone’s experience.
This human connection specialist has worked across many industries from global broadcasting for TV channels like HBO Asia Pacific and CNBC as well as for Virgin Radio Dubai.
Human connection with social beginnings
Now, as an expert in human connection, you might be surprised to learn about how most of Simone’s opportunities initially stem from an online connection.
And that’s the beauty of her talent.
Being able to move her clients and connections from social media, into everyday life.
Her secret is “one minute of brilliance”.
And she elaborates on that in the episode, but you can take action from right now, by having that focus in your mind with all your content.
Psst!! Managed to catch the previous episode with Blaine Oelkers yet?
One minute of brilliance
Whatever you do, make sure you have a solid one minute of brilliance that you can draw on, that will help you in your mission for making human connection.
Oh, and she also amusingly speaks to the visually striking notion of digital connection being the junk food version of real connection.
And this is clearly something we all want to avoid getting too much of!
That talk at Google!
We’ve been spoiled recently with guests who have a knack for public speaking.
Simone is another to add to the roster.
Wendy’s first experience of Simone’s work was when she watched the video Simone delivered to executives on stage at Google.
And the video has to be seen to be believed, so we’re adding it here for you.
In it, Simone tells the story of a difficult conversation she had to have with her mother about a major life decision.
Keeping your head down and staying safe
Simone is a big advocate for ‘sitting in your power’.
She believes that is the best way to maximise the benefits of your human connection.
You are not serving anybody if you just keep your head down.
Least of all yourself.
Here’s an excerpt of that part of the episode.
“So you’re achieving, but you’re never really asserting that you’ve achieved anything or letting it soak in or enjoying those achievements, even when you’re far clear of your parents and they’re long gone and passed away.
And so I find that firstly beautiful and fascinating that the best was good enough in a Western home.
Because certainly, and it’s a big message in my book, the best was not good enough in the way that I was raised.
The best was not about your best.
The best was, where do you sit in the world’s perception of your best?”
Loneliness is always seeking the engagement rather than the human connection
It’s easy to understand how loneliness can find an easy target in social media.
After all, it’s built for connection.
But what often happens is that people instead seek engagement, rather than human connection.
And that’s where the problems start.
Because when we’re only looking for engagement, we’re not really looking to connect with others.
We’re looking to feed our need for validation, or to feel like we’re a part of something.
But that’s not a real human connection.
And it can be damaging to our psyche in the long run.
It’s all about basic human needs.
Simone Heng refers to this imbalance that most of us have at play when we’re on social media, attempting to make those human connections.
Simone’s human connection challenge
One of the best ways to look out for your fellow humans and maintain those all important human connections is to reach them on their own level.
That’s where Simone’s human connection challenge comes in.
And it’s incredibly simple.
In the episode, she explains it.
Here’s a sneak peek.
“We all have friends who are introverts to extroverts on a spectrum and your introverts will tend to have made the pandemic an excuse to go deeper within themselves. So that’s a great way to reach out. And I always say to ping pong with people, right, reciprocity is very important in authentic connection.”
Simone’s conversation that counts
If you’re brand new to this show, every episode of “Making Conversations Count” we ask the guest to share with us a conversation that acted as a turning point in their personal lives or their career.
Simone’s conversation is in total alignment with her whole message about sitting in her power.
It involves a friend offering her some crucial advice regarding her quite human reaction to an attack of stage fright and imposter syndrome…
(Read the full transcript here).
Wendy’s takeaway from this conversation about human connection
The episode discusses human connection, and how social media can be a damaging substitute for real human interaction.
Simone Heng is an expert in human connection and has worked in the broadcasting industry for many years.
She gave a talk at Google and in my mind that makes her an expert we should listen to when it comes to this stuff.
My takeaway is that my training is well placed, helping entrepreneurs and businesses to take their conversations offline, and bring that vital human connection into reality. The alternative can be damaging to our psyche in the long run.
More about Simone
Simone Heng was born in Singapore and was raised in Australia.
She hosted a radio show at Virgin Radio Dubai in 2011.
She has a Communications and Cultural Studies degree from Curtin University of Technology.
Her book on human connection “Secret Pandemic: The Search for Connection in a Lonely World” is available on Amazon.
Simone’s links and goodies!
Simone’s gift for listeners
Simone is offering Making Conversations Count listeners this free guide to storytelling!
Previous episodes to check out
If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you definitely want to check out the following episodes below!
Have better conversations in real life, making your own human connection with ideal clients!
Did you learn something valuable from that conversation?
That’s great.
If you want to continue that learning, you can have a similarly beneficial conversation with the podcast’s host Wendy Harris.
And she will teach you how you can also move your conversations out of social media, and into the real world.
Book your free chat right now.
