#014: My 'Butterfly Effect' Adventure with the Owner of Orvis
Faith shows up in weird ways sometimes. I didn't expect to meet the owner of Orvis last week, but it happened. And the backstory is remarkable.
I recently heard a message from Tim Keller (‘Does God Control Everything?’) where he expounds on the dynamics of the ‘butterfly effect’. If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, it basically says that a single flap of a butterfly’s wings can alter the course of events for the rest of history.
His main point was that we don’t have a millionth of the wisdom required to make perfect choices yet we are still responsible for our choices. I bring this up as it relates to how a recent experience in my own life was part of a causal chain of events that deepened my faith. Hear me out.
Last week I gave a presentation at an industry event in Denver to an audience of others in my profession of Product Marketing. I’m a remote worker chained to a set of monitors, pivoting between six screens and as many LLMs so most evenings I look numb after work. So the chance to get outside and meet others in person was a welcome diversion.
I knew my audience—stressed out and overworked with the threat of an ‘AI takeover’ looming on a daily basis. Comedian Jim Gaffigan has a great skit where he talks about how he welcomes the AI takeover. If you want a quick laugh, here it is:
That comedic tangent was necessary as it relates to the story. I was presenting to a room full of people in this existential crisis, doing more than ever, yet feeling farther behind than ever. The new saying is, “I used to work 12 hours a day. Thanks to AI, I now work 16.” (My prior essay The AI Gnaw Effect dives into this dynamic if you’re curious.)
Knowing my audience was on the verge of AI-driven burnout, I used fun stories and slides that brought in some memes/humor. My final call to action wasn’t for them to ‘do more’ (see Rejecting More’s Law). Instead, I invited them out for a day of fly fishing in the Colorado wilderness. It really clicked.
Anyone that knows me understands that fly fishing is my way of restoring mental and physical balance. And it’s become more than a pandemic-inspired hobby—it’s now necessary. I went to guide school at a local fly shop to prepare for a future where I can ‘do fly fishing’. That was already two years ago. I hung my plaque on the wall and look at it often, thinking ‘I’ll get to that one day’.
And that’s where my event from last week gets so interesting.
So I drove up to Denver and part of me was regretting signing up for the event. It was at 1PM on a Thursday afternoon, and hey, I’m busy. Between work threads, phone texts, meetings, emails, and everything else, I drove north wondering if I made a mistake, thinking ‘Is this a waste of time and energy?”
Yet something told me to keep committed to it. And I’m glad I did. I handed out eight signed copies of Through the Cyber Maze, and made new connections; some have sent me encouraging messages about how my talk inspired them. Not to brag, but one even said that it was the best presentation across the entire event. Wow, I definitely did not expect that. I think the reason was that I spoke to their problems because I’m living them daily.
The most amazing part about this experience was that Orvis was also hosting a partner event on the same day and in the same hotel corridor. Orvis is a (the?) top fly fishing brand in the world. They represent fly fishing more than any other brand on earth (Simms is up there too). They are in every fly shop in the West. In other words, the environment was screaming, ‘fly fishing’ when I walked in.
Naturally I was very curious about the Orvis event. The event producer who invited me to speak said, “Hey Dane, I noticed that you had slides about fly fishing in your presentation. Did you know that there’s a fly fishing event here today too?” And I replied, “Yes I saw that! That’s pretty cool. I’ll have to check them out later.”
I did not plan any of this. My presentation was loaded with fly fishing analogies, and as I mentioned, my call to action QR code on my closing slide was to reach out if anyone was ever interested in taking a fly fishing trip. I also joked before my talk that I was ‘in the wrong room’. It all felt surreal and fateful.
This is where the story gets most interesting. I was walking out of the hotel to go to my car and head back home. But first I thought I would slow down and peek into the Orvis event. I looked into the room at all the fly shop and lodge owners, looking in from the outside, none of them knowing they were being watched by a secret admirer.
That’s when I noticed an older gentleman standing outside. As an introvert, I very rarely approach anyone, but he seemed approachable, so I approached him. Here’s how it went down:
Me: “Excuse me, can I ask what this event is about?”
Gentleman: “This is for Orvis partners. For lodge owners and fly shop owners in the entire Mountain West region.”
Me: “Oh very cool. I’m an avid fly fisherman, and I’m actually here for a different event happening. I was joking in my talk that I wish I was in here with you guys. How about you, are you a lodge owner too?”
Gentleman: “No, actually I’m the owner.”
Me: “Owner of…?”
Gentleman: “The company.”
Me: “Really? Which company?”
Gentleman: “Orvis.”
Me: “What?! Are you kidding? You own Orvis?”
That started a ten minute conversation about his career in fly fishing and his journey. We spoke about Colorado fly fishing spots that I have been to, and about his favorites in Montana and Idaho. It was magical. There I was, conversing with the owner of the leading fly fishing brand in the world. I couldn’t have made that up if I tried.
Now, to be fair, he is technically a part-owner as a member of the Perkins family. He is Dave Perkins, but I still think he can make the claim to ‘own Orvis’ and he was the Chairman of the company for many years. Orvis has been family-owned since 1856.
I tell this story because I don’t believe it was a chance encounter. I believe that this was a signal for me to ‘go in the direction of my dreams’. While I didn’t return home and quit my day job, and this could really just be a coincidence, I found this entire experience to be awe-inspiring.
I learned that I need to be in tune with how seemingly random events intersect. Like the butterfly effect, the decision to speak at this event was triggered by a distant chance encounter when an event coordinator found me ‘somehow’ over six months ago. I also could have canceled and decided to focus on ‘busyness’ and ‘business’.
But sometimes we are called by these random signals in life and we have to make a choice to walk toward them in faith. That sounds like a contradiction (is it a choice or predestined?) but maybe it’s both. Our choices can’t always be dictated by AI or analyzed to perfection. Like a flap of a butterfly’s wings, we don’t always know how one event connects to our future. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t flap our wings anyway.
AI Disclaimer: AI was only used to create the butterfly video and image in this article. Everything else is 100% human-originated.