“If he needed someone, I wanted to be that someone.”
I saw something recently that impacted me deeply.
I was at my local Starbucks, typing away on my laptop, totally in the zone, when suddenly, my eyes were pulled to this older gentlemen, sitting on his own, barely touching his coffee, swollen eyes and no ring on his finger. I don’t usually go up to people I don’t know, but I felt like I needed to approach him. But I was nervous. I didn’t want to be presumptuous. Maybe he was just waiting for someone, maybe he was perfectly fine. But maybe he wasn’t. This was the usual back and forth I would play in my mind in these situations, but I grew frustrated with my fear and insecurity. If he indeed needed someone, I wanted to be that someone. So I just got my self up, walked over to him and asked: “Hi, I’m trying to find a restaurant to take my father to, do you know any good stake houses in the area?” He lit up immediately, “oh yeah I know a place” in a subtle German accent. He said he doesn’t go out much, he prefers to cook him self. But just like that, we were talking!
He told me about his job as a fire safety inspector. He loved his job! I asked him why, he said he loves learning; figuring out how things work and solving problems. His job allowed him to do that all day. I asked him why most people aren’t that excited about what they do, he said “if you don’t love what you do, you won’t do it . You have to actually like what you’re doing!”
After telling me about how it rained every day on his only trip to Mexico and how important he felt soccer was to the world, he told me he had to get going. I felt good, and I think he did too. Not only did I build up the courage to talk to a complete stranger, but I actually put a smile on someone’s face. As I was sitting back down at my computer it occurred to me, why don’t I do this more often? I’ve seen people look troubled before, I always think about approaching them but rarely act on it. It’s hard to approach someone you don’t know, but why? We’ve all experienced loss, pain, regret and sorrow. Wouldn’t any of us appreciate someone coming to us with love and understanding?
When you think about it, none of us are strangers. We may not know each others names, but we know each others experience. So I made a commitment, from now on, anytime I see someone in need of help or just a little company, I will approach them, help however I can and listen without judgement. And I won’t just do this in my personal life. My business is also a vehicle for impact and connection, it creates opportunity, not just for my self, but for others. It allows me to help in more expansive and specific ways.
That’s one of the great things about being business owners, we can truly help people and make a difference in their lives.
So let’s make a commitment together to focus on connection and continue going the extra mile for our clients so they know how much we care about them. We have the power to create impact like very few can, let’s take advantage of that and do our best for our customers and community. When we show that we care about people, they will in turn care about us. And that will allow us all to succeed in our own way, and enjoy the process along the way.
