Barbara Bush was an outstanding woman. You’ve likely read all about her and all the people whose lives she touched. I was lucky enough to meet her many years ago on a day that I’ll never forget. I was at a cocktail event before a key note speech she was giving and was introduced to her. Her firm handshake was warm and her smile was genuine.
We talked about several subjects, but when I mentioned that I was publisher of a newspaper and spent a lot of time working on helping young people and adults learn to read, she dove into that subject. I knew that literacy was important to her. Indeed it was. She wanted to know all the details of what I was doing to help the literacy cause. She had a real passion for the subject.
I explained the pages we ran to help both young people and high school students learn more about what was going on the in the world. She asked more and more questions and kept thanking me for doing all of these projects.
It seems like everyone had a moment of humor with Barbara. I had one, too. The Secret Service person told her she had to go to get ready to speak. In fact, he told her twice. Finally, she turned to him with her great smile and said, “Thanks so much. I’ll tell you what. When I’m done here and ready to go, I’ll let you know.”
Then we went back to talking about education.
ACTION STEPS FOR THIS WEEK
- Are you always “present” when you are having a conversation with someone?
- Does it matter what their rank is in life, or are you accommodating to everyone you meet.
- Whatever your field is, do you learn all that you can so that you can really make a difference?
- Do each of your employees have an area in your organization that they are passionate about?
- Do they spread the word about it to everyone they meet?
