I was only ten minutes into a Zoom call with a team of smart, motivated, innovative professionals when the finger-pointing, blaming, and criticizing began. Problems were presented. Obstacles were outlined. Faults were floated. The conversation got heated and combative.

It’s clear that remote work, or a combination of remote- and in-person work, is here to stay. This lasting impact of the pandemic will have positive implications for things like people’s mental, physical, and emotional health (hurray for trading in the commute for time to exercise or see friends!) and the environment (which needs all the TLC we can give it).

I’ve lost count of how many ropes courses I’ve completed in my lifetime. As a kid, I whizzed down zip lines at camp. As a young adult, I tested my mettle walking tightropes strung up high in the towering redwoods. As a coach, I’ve lead teams as they navigated across swinging, bouncing tires suspended from tree branches.

I’m lucky enough to get to work with business leaders and managers who want to connect with, support, and inspire everyone on their team. They understand the importance of honing how they communicate, listen, empathize, and give feedback because they know these “soft” skills improve everything morale and collaboration to productivity and retention across the whole organization.

It was 4 am, the wind was howling, and I was in a tent pitched somewhere in the rugged plains of Bhutan. I needed to pee. Clambering out of my nylon shelter to find some bushes, I heard peals of high-pitched laughter. I looked around in the dim pre-dawn light and could just make out a man dressed in a traditional tunic, leading a yak. A little girl—his daughter, I later learned—was perched on the yak’s bony back. The wind threatened to blow her to the ground, and she couldn’t stop giggling.

Two years ago, my husband Matt and I took a five-month road trip in our RV, which we call Freedom. Shortly into the adventure, we started keeping a list of people and places we encountered that went above and beyond in some way, like serving melt-in-your-mouth pancakes, offering an extra-friendly smile, or sharing directions for a “locals-only” shortcut.