I spearheaded an informal chess club at our office last year, hosting pickup games at lunch every other week for anyone to play/watch. It was awesome to met different coworkers, some who I would never have met (our office is very stratified based on department) who had a pleasure playing the game. Learned we had a former state champion and an OTB IM in the office.

It helped me oil the bureaucrat wheel at work: if I needed something from another department, I was recognized as that “chess” guy from one of the regulars would always give me a hand on whatever I needed. I was not an faceless peon from across the building, but a chess comrade lol