My Best Pat On The Back

I received maybe the best pat on the back/thank you of my career this week. It was strange and funny and awkward and great all at the same time. Someone wished me Happy Father’s Day.

This year I met a co-worker in a similar role to mine. He works in a company that my company purchased. We live in different states. We haven’t met face to face… only online. I reached out and we started meeting every week to talk about what’s going on and our common interests and just stuff. The kind of conversations I enjoy.

I’ve been a Learning and Development guy for a very long time… worked in a lot of different situations at different companies. He’s a veteran with a complicated success overcoming difficulties story. He came to the leadership development side of things later in life than I did. He says our conversations give him support and positive energy and encouragement. I don’t know about that, but they certainly make me smile.

So this week at the end of a webinar, he hangs around to tell me something. Happy Father’s Day… sincerely. He wanted to thank me for taking an interest and encouraging him. Just getting online and talking about what’s possible and inviting him to help. I protested and gave him the fake modesty thing we all do… and mostly I smiled. Made me happy.

If you’ve got someone willing to talk to you about what you’re doing, why it matters, and how it helps… don’t forget to make them smile.