A former colleague who worked with me in 2008 during the Great Recession recently emailed to tell me she was enjoying my book and that it brought back many memories. “I still vividly remember standing at the Bloomberg machine, watching the stock price plummeting, and you telling me we were going to get through it. While it didn’t seem possible at the time, I believed you. A few gray hairs later, and we were on the other side,” she said.
I was struck by the fact that she remembered this exchange after so long. It clearly made an impression on her, which in turn had an effect on me.
Whether we realize it or not, those minor moments that happen in passing have as much of an impact on our employees as the large initiatives and the bigger decisions we think will be our legacy.
After more than a decade of writing life-changing advice, Guardian columnist Oliver Burkeman knows when to move on. Read what else he learned, especially for the principles in his final column.
Great Leaders & Little Things: with Cheryl Bachelder
