Notes From the Window Seat

Why the Window Seat?

Marty Pearson Episode 59

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0:00 | 5:41

Welcome to the first episode of Notes from the Window Seat.

In this special episode, Marty shares the story behind the podcast's new name and the journey that inspired it. What began as conversations about business and leadership has grown into something broader—a place to explore travel, leadership, curiosity, and the everyday moments that quietly change the way we see the world and ourselves.

From a spontaneous trip to England nearly forty years ago to adventures in Antarctica, Africa, and beyond, Marty reflects on how saying "yes" to one unexpected opportunity sparked a lifelong love of discovery.

Because Notes from the Window Seat isn't just about travel.

It's about perspective.

Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair by the window, and join us for the beginning of a new chapter.

In This Episode

  • Why the podcast has a new name
  • The trip that changed everything
  • How curiosity shaped a lifetime of travel
  • Why the best journeys teach us to see differently
  • What you can expect from future episodes

 There's always a seat waiting for you by the window. New episodes every Monday. 

SPEAKER_00

Welcome back to the podcast. If you've been listening for a while, you've probably noticed something looks a little different. The podcast has a new name. Today I want to take a few minutes to tell you why. This isn't simply a new logo or a new title, it's the next chapter in my journey. When this podcast began, many of our conversations centered on business, leadership, and helping organizations grow. Those conversations aren't disappearing. But over the last year I've come to realize something. The stories that landed the best weren't just about business. They were about people, about places, about being curious, about slowing down long enough to notice the lessons hiding in plain sight. I've always been curious about people, and when I sat down to write this episode, I started thinking about when that curiosity began. For me, it was almost 40 years ago. One of my first trips outside the US. There was a local radio station running a promotion for a five-day trip to England. My husband and my father-in-law jokingly dared my mother-in-law and I to go. A few hours later, we had done the unthinkable. We were booked. Two weeks later, we were on our airplane headed to London. We laugh about this now, but that one spontaneous yes changed the direction of my life. During those five days, we explored London, we learned to navigate the underground, we wandered through the streets of Bath, and we visited Stonehenge back when you could still walk right up to the stones. I still remember standing there in awe, wondering about the people who had stood in that very spot and built Stonehenge. Something shifted inside of me on that trip. I realized the world was so much bigger than the small corner of it that I knew. Every new place had a story. Every culture had something to teach me. Every conversation expanded the way I thought. Curiosity about people. And that curiosity has stayed with me ever since. Over the last forty years, that curiosity has taken me to the icy waters of Antarctica, across the plains of Africa, through war-torn cities in Bosnia, to beautiful cathedrals, and to coffee shops around the world filled with strangers who quickly became friends. It also taught me something else. The best photographs aren't really about what we see. They're about what we feel in that moment. And the same is true of life. The moments that change us are rarely the biggest ones. They're often the quiet conversations, the unexpected detours, the stories we almost missed because we were moving too fast. That is why this podcast has a new name. Notes from the Window Seat isn't about travel. It's about perspective. For me, a window seat has always been a place of anticipation. It's where a journey begins. It's where the unfamiliar becomes familiar. It's where curiosity quietly takes over. From that seat, the world looks different. And that's exactly what I hope this podcast becomes. A place where we explore the stories, people, and places that encourage us to slow down, to look a little closer, and to discover something we hadn't noticed before. Some episodes will take us around the world, others simply across the street. We'll talk about photography, travel, and leadership. We'll explore the extraordinary moments hidden inside ordinary days. If you've been listening from the beginning, I want to say thank you. And I hope you'll stay for this next chapter. Because while the name has changed, the heart of these conversations has it. It's always been about learning to see the world and ourselves a little differently. So grab a cup of coffee and pick a seat by the window. I'm glad you're here. Because I have a feeling our best conversations are still ahead of us.