A couple of years ago, I found myself working side-by-side with Charlie Luck, president of Luck Stone Corporation.
That wasn't so unusual. Charlie and I had partnered on dozens of communication, strategy and business culture activities over my decade with the company.
What was unusual was the conversation that followed the pause in our work that day.
It was personal, meaningful. It gave me pause, and made me think deeply.
Essentially, Charlie asked me if I'd taken the time to connect with and thank specific people in my life for the gifts they'd given me in our relationships, or to apologize for my mistakes. He asked, he said, because he'd recently done exactly that, and was struck by the power of the conversation.
I hadn't, I told him. Not, at least, in the relationship that may have needed the most closure at the time.
Fast forward to July of 2009.
It had been nine months since I had left Luck Stone, one of 150 people laid off in November -- ultimately part of a 40% companywide reduction in force from a 2006 peak. I'd been running nonstop trying to get Floricane off the ground, and I was beginning to get my feet beneath me.
It was, I thought, time for that conversation.
This one was with Charlie. We met for coffee a few weeks ago.
Without going into many details, it was an important discussion -- and personal. I began by thanking him for everything he had given me over my 12 years with his company.
I walked away from that conversation struck by its power. The simple power of appreciation and gratitude.
I'm not sure I can even imagine my life without the gifts that Charlie Luck had scattered throughout the last decade or so of my life. Walking away from that without personally acknowledging it would have been the biggest leadership failure of my life.
We should have such conversations daily. All of us.