Let's Talk About Bruno

I feel like I missed something…” — Bruno

Let’s talk about Bruno.

Wait, what? I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about Bruno.

For those of you who haven’t seen Encanto, you’re missing out. I won’t post any spoilers, but let’s just say it’s one of those movies that rewards multiple viewings. At the Cox household, that has certainly been the case. In fact, I think I can hear the soundtrack playing somewhere in the house right now.

Over the holidays, I had the pleasure of seeing Encanto in the theater with my entire family, including my son who had moved away. That’s something we hadn’t been able to do together for several years. The movie gave us far more than entertainment. It gave us an experience we could share. We laughed together, reflected together, and spent hours talking about it afterward. Those conversations became part of the memory itself.

Great stories have a way of doing that.

They bring people together. They spark conversations. They create shared moments that linger long after the credits roll. They become woven into family traditions and personal narratives. Years later, we may not remember every detail of the story, but we’ll remember who we experienced it with and how it made us feel.

As I reflected on that experience, it struck me that we often become so consumed by the urgency of the moment that we lose sight of the bigger picture. We focus on deadlines, meetings, sprint plans, production issues, bug reports, emails, and endless to-do lists. We spend our days solving immediate problems and moving from one task to the next.

In the process, it’s easy to forget that our work ultimately serves people.

Behind every product, every service, every system, every design, and every line of code is a human being whose life may be made a little easier, a little brighter, or a little more connected because of what we do.

The impact may not always be obvious.

Most of the time, we never meet the people we help. We don’t see the smiles, hear the conversations, or witness the memories being created. We simply do our work and move on to the next challenge.

But the impact is real.

Can I suggest something?

Take a few minutes today and look up from your laptop screen. Step outside. Look toward the horizon of this incredible Earthship we’re all riding together.

Across our world, billions of people are living their lives at this very moment. Families are gathering around dinner tables. Friends are reconnecting. Children are learning. Couples are falling in love. Someone is celebrating a milestone. Someone else is struggling and looking for hope. Countless stories are unfolding simultaneously across the globe.

We’re connected to more of those stories than we realize.

The work we do matters.

The encouragement we offer matters.

The kindness we show matters.

The things we create, build, teach, support, and share ripple outward in ways we may never fully understand.

Every day we have an opportunity to make the world a little better than we found it.

That’s a kind of magic all by itself.

So let’s get back to work. Let’s solve problems. Let’s build things. Let’s encourage one another. Let’s create experiences worth remembering.

And while we’re at it…

Let’s talk about Bruno.