“There’s a lot of fish in the sea Ryan. You’ll find a nice girl soon enough, just a matter of putting yourself out there again.” — Uncle Pete
Imagine coming home for the holidays and having an uncle say that to you after a tough breakup of a serious two year relationship. Caring and coming from the right place but yet overall — pretty much high level fluff and not all that actionable. Oh gee whiz Uncle Pete, that makes so much sense…never thought of that.
I don’t have an official Uncle Peter in the family but that example is the best way to describe to friends the essence of an Uncle Pete statement.
Funny enough the concept of Uncle Pete has stuck with the few dozen people I’ve ever joked about it with, recall rate probably at 90%. It’s actually become such a funny enough idea that many close friends and co-workers use it on a daily basis to check themselves and others.
I’d always like to say “thanks, Uncle Pete” when I hear a tech investor on a panel explain “mobile is big trend we’ll be paying close attention to in the coming years.” Didn’t realize 3bn+ smartphones would be a technological, societal and economic trend worth paying attention to.
The point is — it’s really easy to make Uncle Pete comments. And sometimes they’re ok to make…it’s a stressful situation, it needed to be said or you were just trying to be positive. That said, I find a lot of time (more than you initially think) there’s an opportunity to [pause] and then truly listen or try to share something original.
We all can do better. We don’t need to spew regurgitated lessons learned from a medium blog post (edit: lol) or use such lofty umbrella statements due to a fear of being wrong.
The smartest bring insights and new perspectives when they have them and are humble enough to listen when they don’t. 🎤 👂
^All this stuff is hard to do Ryan and it will take time, but it’s well worth the try. — the great Uncle Pete
