Do you belong?
It was bike week up north—“Blessing of the Bikes,” actually. Thousands made a pilgrimage to our little backwoods town so the local shaman could bless them at the airport.
My son and I rolled up to our cabin for a weekend getaway (in the Jeep, not on two wheels), and surprise—bikes everywhere.
It was a cool, rainy, gray kind of day. Did anyone care? Not at all.
The town was buzzing, everyone sporting the official uniform: black. Leather vests with skulls, chaps that looked like they’d survived a bar fight, facial hair that could double as a small animal’s habitat, and then the bikes.
Every. Single. Kind.
Old hogs that knew Al Capone. Shiny new Indians. Trikes straight out of a sci-fi movie. Choppers that roared with the fury of a thousand angry lawnmowers. It was a glorious, greasy, rumbling circus.
The town’s main street was closed to cars. Bikes only. A metal river of belonging.
It didn’t matter what you rode. If you had two wheels and an engine, you were in. Instant membership in the brotherhood.
Humans are hardwired for belonging. We crave that “one of us” feeling—to be seen, recognized, valued, and understood. When we find our people, it’s potent.
Now, imagine an organization where everyone felt that kind of belonging. Where people weren’t just showing up for a paycheck, but because they felt part of something bigger than themselves. Where the pull was so strong, they’d weather any storm and wear the company colors with pride (okay, maybe not leather chaps—HR might have an opinion).
So how do you create that kind of belonging at work?
Here’s one powerful step:
Find Commonality to Build Community.
Ask questions. Be genuinely curious. Celebrate wins—big and small, personal and professional. Create shared experiences, the “inside jokes” that bind people together. In other words, create your own motorcycle rally environment inside your organization.
Because in the end, whether you’re roaring down the highway on a Harley or navigating the corporate jungle, we’re all looking for the same thing: a place to belong. A tribe to call our own. A group of people who get us, quirks and all.
And when we find that? We’ll ride.