Last week we in the US celebrated our Thanksgiving Holiday. I know there are many different views of this holiday, but today I come to you full of gratitude. I am grateful to be here, thankful for the opportunity to know and work with you, and thankful for your support and friendship.

I’ve been blessed for the last 10 years to work with people from over 100 countries. I have gained a lot of insight working with wonderful people that have given me the opportunity to be part of their journey.

I’ve been blessed and am thankful for that. I’m also thankful for those who told me NO, they don’t want my service or business. As I reflect on the situations, I realized that in most cases, it would have been a disaster to move forward. Their way of doing business didn’t work well with the way we do business. I’m not talking about human culture — I mean the business cultures were a mismatch.

I’m thankful to them for saying NO to me, for saying NO to the painful process and challenge of wanting each other to adjust.

I’m also thankful for those who did give me a chance, knowing that my approach was different, or that we had completely different views of leadership, capacity building, or other aspects of our work.

I’ve been fortunate to work in the sphere of economic development corporations, with leaders as well as ESOs — Entrepreneurial Support Organizations — and working with entrepreneurs and leaders of local community organizations.

I am thankful for your trust in me, my team, and my company in delivering products and services for your people and community. I am thankful for your partnership, and your openness in providing the feedback that helps us grow. We grew together by learning from each other and supporting each other in a meaningful way.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

1. Who can you thank that allowed you and/or your business to grow?

2. Who can you thank that never gave you business, allowing you to grow?

3. Who can you thank with just a kind word?

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