Have I told you lately that I love you?
A quote on the wall in the coffee shop where I’m writing this. Thank you for inspiring me and our team to put our ideas into the world—especially our silly ones!
Every year, our team does an exercise where we write an acknowledgement to each person in the company and share how grateful we are for the impact they have had on our lives and our work. It’s an exercise I learned long ago from my friend Peter Docker, and it’s one of the last things we do on our team before closing out the year: We spend time writing our letters to one another, and then, in our final December meeting, we receive all the letters written to us and sometimes even read them aloud to one another. (You can learn more about our team’s acknowledgement process by downloading our guide here.)
We are still a couple weeks away from our December meeting, but as I’ve been thinking about the acknowledgements I want to write to those on our team, it got me thinking about how I also want to acknowledge you. With Thanksgiving just a couple days away, I’m feeling immense gratitude for you and for this community, and I don’t want to miss this chance . . . I want to be sure I express just how much you mean to me and how thankful I am for you.
Thank you, first and foremost, for encouraging my vulnerability and for making me feel safe.
It’s really hard to write sometimes. And it can feel like a lot of pressure to keep up with a blog and posting on social media. Every time I sit down to write, I challenge myself to think about what’s really on my heart and to write about that. But the thing is, sometimes what I have on my heart isn’t easy to express. Sometimes I fear judgement . . . sometimes I feel like it’s not “professional” or “about work,” and that makes me second-guess myself . . . sometimes it feels like stripping down and sharing something that feels so personal and so raw . . . but every time I choose to be real with you, a few of you write me and say, “Thank you for sharing.” Your comments, your replies, your acknowledgement of what I’ve shared . . . it’s what inspires me to keep writing, to keep being vulnerable, to keep sharing, to keep being authentic. And I know that even if you don’t agree with what I’ve written, you’ll meet me with kindness as you challenge my perspective, and I’m thankful for that, too. So thank you. I feel safe with you. I write and will keep writing because of you.
I also want to thank you for your support when I announced our company’s transition earlier this year. In fact, as I write this, I’m sitting in the same exact coffee shop, in the same exact seat as I sat in January when I wrote the blog post that announced our decision to sell the cleaning side of our business. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since we made that choice. I remember sitting in the seat where I am now, terrified to write the words that were on my heart. I feared many things . . . that the new direction might not work out, that our leadership development business might not continue to have the same success after announcing the news . . . but what I feared most of all was losing you.
Over the years, we’ve built a lot of trust between us. And there’s probably a big chance that you found my work because of my company, Student Maid. I feared that making the decision to close Student Maid might cause you to lose your trust in me. I feared you might not agree with the decision or understand it. I feared that it might change our relationship. And, because my heart couldn’t handle the thought of that, I continued to hold onto the company, even though I knew it wasn’t where I was called to go in my life.
But, as you know, I eventually made the decision to leave behind cleaning and go all-in on our leadership development business because the pain of staying became too great. And even though I made that choice, the fear of losing you never left me. The night before I published the blog post that made it all official, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned as I wondered what you’d think. But as soon as the post went live at 8 a.m. ET, I was met with love. Support. Excitement. Encouragement. Acknowledgement of the courage it took to make the decision and follow my heart. How silly of me to think you’d react any other way. You’ve always shown up for me and for our team. Your belief in me and in us helped me believe in me and helped us believe in us. Thank you for being there when I (and we) needed you most. The story of your support will be one I share until the end of time, to encourage people to follow their hearts and be authentic, even in the face of fear.
Thank you for celebrating my wedding and my love with Spiros. Another big moment this year. Even though you are behind the screen, it's as if you were there for the biggest moment in my life so far. Your joy and happiness about our celebration can be felt. It feels like genuine love. Thank you.
And finally, thank you for your support of our work. Thank you for believing in the power of leadership. Thank you for reading this blog, for attending our LIVEs, for downloading our resources, for reading Permission to Screw Up, for sharing our ideas, for attending the Human Leadership Program and our R&R Retreat, for being a part of our coaching groups, for inviting me to speak and to work with your team, for investing in our Student Made initiative to allow the rising generation to participate in our programs, for telling others about our work. Every single act has made an impact and has had a ripple effect. You are helping us build a more courageous, compassionate world. And your financial support is helping our company provide for our team in ways that we always hoped we could. Because of you, we are able to take care of our people and have a company where people come first, and we get to wake up every morning and work on our vision of building a better, more human world.
Thank you. I love you. I’m so grateful for you. You have inspired me and impacted me beyond measure. You’ve made me a better person. You’ve given me purpose. Everything I do . . . I owe it to you.
Big hugs,
Kristen
PS: No LIVE this week, but I hope you’ll join us for our LIVE on Wednesday, 12/1, at 11 a.m. ET! I’ll be interviewing our CPAs about all things money! We’ll be talking about our company’s approach to finances and how our CPAs helped us build a people-first culture where metrics matter. You can register here:https://bit.ly/3kWe2kT
