Have you ever thought about what it takes to stay connected to the people closest to you? I hadn't. Not until I started exchanging messages with someone behind bars.

Tremayne Seymour is an artist incarcerated at Lawrenceville Correctional Center. We connected through a painting. What started as a simple exchange turned into one of the most meaningful friendships of my life.

A white guy from Maine gets invited to speak with 80 incarcerated men in Virginia about leading with love. What happened inside was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.

A couple months ago I got a text from my friend Sam Harris. It was a simple yes or no question: "Have you ever been inside a prison?" I hadn't. And the fact that I hadn't felt significant.

I sat down for lunch with Sam Harris at Saltine in Norfolk. He spent 24 years, 8 months, and 10 hours in prison. What makes him remarkable isn’t the time. It’s what he did with those years, and what he’s doing now.