Too tired to write. But I must write.
Today I learnt a lesson that I had unlearnt over the years. If you appreciate someone and you wish to compliment them, do it then and there. Don’t wait. You never know it might become too late some day. And you might lose the chance to thank them or appreciate them in person later. “Live like there is no tomorrow, because there isn’t one”, said Don Draper in Season 1 of Mad Men. And oh was Don right or what.
Over the last 15 or so months at Salesforce I have worked with some amazing people. And one of them quit the firm today. I was too late in telling him that I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. Every time I sent him an email I was rest assured that it will be replied to. Every time I asked for help, he never said no. And every time I received an email from him, it was my top priority to reply to him before the end of the day, not matter how busy my day was. But even though we exchanged several emails and quick phone calls over the last fifteen months, I never told him how much I enjoyed working with him. I never appreciated him in person. I should have done that. People like being appreciated. It is the small things that matter. And I ignored my own principle thinking that I had time. Just that in this case I ran out of it.
He is no longer with us and I won’t be able to meet him in person and tell him how much I appreciated his help, professionalism and attention to detail in all our interactions. Instead I left him a LinkedIn recommendation. It was the best I could do.
“You are born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget that”, said Don Draper (again). I never forget that fact too. But to make this ride enjoyable you need to make some friends and some memories too and the first step in that direction is to be appreciative of what you like about people. I like appreciation. I enjoy receiving it. And I am almost always pretty frivolous with giving it too. But I regret holding back my appreciation this time.
Time to learn my lesson once again 🙂
Shivi 