Gratitude Focus: Today, I am Grateful For Authenticity Of Voice.

Reflection/Why I’m Grateful:

Yesterday, I phoned a colleague to thank him for his leadership. He’s a commercial banker, but he steps up in so many ways beyond just doing deals. He has a gift for learning new things and teaching others, even if it’s painful at first, because he’s focused on making us more efficient and more customer-centric. During the conversation, we also talked about our weekend plans.

I mentioned I’ll be spending most of the weekend writing but taking a break Saturday night to go see Katt Williams, the comedian. He laughed and said he’ll be swamped with kids’ sports and activities — he’s in that season of life, while I’m now an empty nester. He shared that he follows my social media content and that it seems like a full-time job. I told him it requires discipline, but it’s also just who I am. I believe we all have something to share. More and more of our colleagues are speaking publicly about the good work we’re doing. For me, part of what I try to do is humanize leadership. Much of what I talk about, most leaders wouldn’t touch. But I think if we shared more of the “sausage-making” of leadership, more people would be willing to get into the sausage business. Our lives are just that — the ingredients for good sausage.