In 2011, I received an email from a colleague I didn’t know — Juan Diego Borerro, from Universidad de Huelva, Spain. He wanted to do a postdoc with me at Cardiff Business School. Our topics had some overlap, but truthfully, I wasn’t quite sure what this collaboration would bring. And I was about to go on my maternity leave too...Still, I said yes.
Juan Diego arrived in Cardiff, accompanied by a PhD student, rocio arteaga. That yes, all those years ago, turned into more than just a visit. It unfolded into long-term collaboration, co-authored papers, shared projects, research visits across borders, and—more than anything else—a deep, trusting academic friendship.
It could have gone nowhere. But instead, it went everywhere.
Too often in academia, we’re wired to ask: What’s in it for me? Does this align with my agenda, my time, my metrics? We wait to see clear return before we give. But maybe the most profound collaborations are the ones we don’t try to calculate in advance.
A few months ago, in another one of these “yes” moments, I said yes to a research visit with Rana Zayadin, PhD. She came to hashtag#Kazakhstan, and in one of our conversations, I casually mentioned I’d be walking the hashtag#CaminodeSantiago with Juan Diego and his family — something we’d long dreamed of doing. Rana decided to join. And so, the three of us — with our families trailing behind us, walking the ancient pilgrimage paths of Spain — found ourselves in long conversations about businesses that aren’t just about profit, but purpose. Not just efficiency, but emotion. Not just strategy, but soul.
That walk, drenched in exhaustion and epiphany, became the birthplace of a new research idea: a study of the businesses along the Camino and the meaning they bring — to their owners, to pilgrims, to seekers. It’s a paper-in-progress, still unnamed, still unshaped. Like most beautiful things, it will arrive slowly. But it is coming.
So, what is the takeaway?
It’s this: in research, in teaching, in life — don’t always weigh the scales before you act. Sometimes just say yes. Say yes to the unexpected email. Say yes to the walk. Say yes to someone you don’t yet know.
The returns may not be immediate or measurable — but they may just change everything.
hashtag#WimpyAcademicChronicles hashtag#PowerOfYes hashtag#AcademicLife hashtag#SerendipityInScholarship hashtag#HumanConnection hashtag#DecolonizingMetrics
Juan Diego arrived in Cardiff, accompanied by a PhD student, rocio arteaga. That yes, all those years ago, turned into more than just a visit. It unfolded into long-term collaboration, co-authored papers, shared projects, research visits across borders, and—more than anything else—a deep, trusting academic friendship.
It could have gone nowhere. But instead, it went everywhere.
Too often in academia, we’re wired to ask: What’s in it for me? Does this align with my agenda, my time, my metrics? We wait to see clear return before we give. But maybe the most profound collaborations are the ones we don’t try to calculate in advance.
A few months ago, in another one of these “yes” moments, I said yes to a research visit with Rana Zayadin, PhD. She came to hashtag#Kazakhstan, and in one of our conversations, I casually mentioned I’d be walking the hashtag#CaminodeSantiago with Juan Diego and his family — something we’d long dreamed of doing. Rana decided to join. And so, the three of us — with our families trailing behind us, walking the ancient pilgrimage paths of Spain — found ourselves in long conversations about businesses that aren’t just about profit, but purpose. Not just efficiency, but emotion. Not just strategy, but soul.
That walk, drenched in exhaustion and epiphany, became the birthplace of a new research idea: a study of the businesses along the Camino and the meaning they bring — to their owners, to pilgrims, to seekers. It’s a paper-in-progress, still unnamed, still unshaped. Like most beautiful things, it will arrive slowly. But it is coming.
So, what is the takeaway?
It’s this: in research, in teaching, in life — don’t always weigh the scales before you act. Sometimes just say yes. Say yes to the unexpected email. Say yes to the walk. Say yes to someone you don’t yet know.
The returns may not be immediate or measurable — but they may just change everything.
hashtag#WimpyAcademicChronicles hashtag#PowerOfYes hashtag#AcademicLife hashtag#SerendipityInScholarship hashtag#HumanConnection hashtag#DecolonizingMetrics
