How much do you ACTUALLY know about the people you were in meetings with yesterday?

How much do you ACTUALLY know about the people you were in meetings with yesterday?

I mean ACTUALLY know.

Do you know what they are going through at home? Do you know if they have a chronic auto immune disease that gives them pain daily? Do you know if they just lost a family member? Do you know how their morning even went? Did you know their 3 kids have cystic fibrosis?

One of the greatest forms of suffering in modern work is that we show up all polished and shiny, but really, no one knows what’s going on behind the blazer and button-down.

The truth of the matter in life is that most people around us are fighting battles that we know nothing about.

So what happens?

We have this WHOLE person. WHOLE ENTIRE HUMAN with things going on at home at work and everywhere else and we show up and launch into “Okay, so where are we at with this project?? Did you submit the expense report? I think you clocked in a few minutes late yesterday — let’s try to get to work on time. You better start using AI more or your job might be at risk.”

We crack the whip and keep driving. Driving harder and harder towards performance metrics. ROI rules our lives.

I believe it’s time for a new way of being. It’s time to go back to how humans were actually designed to experience life.

Instead of greeting someone with a new task, try a simple “I appreciate you so much. The work you’re doing for this team doesn’t go unnoticed. How’s it been going? How’s life?”

Just some open ended questions and a bit of praise and acknowledgement can reset and refocus our hearts on the PERSON and not the task.

We can slowly start to create a culture of love again. I believe if we just start seeing, praising, and showing up with a heart to serve people in our life we can restore humanity.

Today’s reminder from this reflection is to look up every now and then from your screen(s), notice someone, encourage someone, see someone. You never know, it just might lift something heavy they have been carrying.