“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” – Mark Twain
Everyone is fighting a great battle within themselves.
It’s easy to see people who show up showered and dressed and ready to work as having normal put-together, well-adjusted lives and being here, centered, and willing to serve us. But the reality is that almost everybody, at some point, is fighting a great battle within themselves or at home.
Maybe they’re lonely or sick. Maybe a loved one has turned to drugs. Maybe they’re getting divorced. Maybe they are a single mother. Maybe they suffer from low self-esteem inflicted by struggling parents who didn’t know any better. Maybe they can’t pay their bills. Maybe they have to support a disabled child. Maybe they are looking for meaning, or just attention of any kind.
The reality is that you have the power to make work the best part of someone’s life. We have said entrepreneurship is the power to create oneself, but it’s also the power to impact others’ lives for half of their waking hours. That is an awesome power.
Empathy is the ability to understand another’s feelings. It’s different than sympathy, which is agreeing or supporting one’s feelings. Great leaders understand people and life and how they respond or react emotionally to events and challenges, whether those responses are the same as the ones the leader would choose or not. They understand that you can never understand another person unless they ARE them and have lived the same life. Showing empathy is the first step. Helping people believe in themselves, being the best version of themselves and being a bright spot in their day follows.
When people feel like their leader cares about them, it matters more than you can know. When a leader cares, they build trust and caring in their team members, and amongst each other. Over time, an ecosystem of caring emerges among all team members.
This post resonates deeply with me, especially because just two days ago was International Cancer Survivor Day is February 4th. Moments like that remind me how easily we take health, time, and even simple presence for granted.
I often reflect on the phrase: “Things don’t happen to you, they happen for you.” Not because pain is easy or fair but because what truly defines us is not what happens, it’s what we choose to do with what happens. Our power lives in the response, in the rebuilding, in the overcoming and adaptability.
Personally, I’m simply grateful to still be here after overcoming three cancer battles. That reality changes how you see people, leadership, and even small daily interactions. You begin to understand that everyone is carrying something unseen, and a little compassion can mean more than we’ll ever know.
I’ve learned that sometimes sharing the struggle is important, but even more powerful is sharing the tools, the people, the habits, and the mindset that helped us rise. That is where empathy becomes action. When we show others how we stood back up, we give them a map and sometimes that map is exactly what someone else needs to keep going.
Leadership through love isn’t just about encouragement; it’s about recognizing that every person walking into a room may be fighting a silent battle. A sincere compliment, a moment of understanding, or simply making someone feel seen can shift the trajectory of their entire day and sometimes their life.
Health, resilience, empathy, and kindness are not soft skills; they are life skills. And when we lead with them, we don’t just build better teams we build stronger humans. And for me, every day I wake up healthy is a reminder that being here is already a victory everything else is purpose.
People may forget our names or our words, but they never forget how we made them feel.
Thank you, Larry! CTBS Team