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Subject: [FOLKLORE FAMILY] Whatever You Need
Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 16:27:22 EDT

Whatever You Need
By Martin Rutte

I was working as a consultant in a beer company,
helping the president and senior vice-presidents formulate
and implement their new strategic vision. It was an
enormous challenge.
At the same time, my mother was in the final stages of
cancer.
I worked during the day and drove 40 miles home to be
with her every night. It was tiring and stressful, but it
was what I wanted to do. My commitment was to continue to
do excellent consulting during the day, even though my
evenings were very hard. I didn't want to bother the
president with my situation, yet I felt someone at the
company needed to know what was going on. So I told the
vice-president of Human Resources, asking him not to share
the information with anyone.
A few days later, the president called me into his
office. I figured he wanted to talk to me about one of the
many issues we were working on. When I entered, he asked
me to sit down. He faced me from across his large desk,
looked me in the eye and said, "I hear your mother is very
ill."
I was totally caught by surprise and burst into tears.
He just looked at me, let my crying subside, and then
gently said a sentence I will never forget: "Whatever you
need."
That was it. His understanding and his willingness to
both let me be in my pain and to offer me everything were
qualities of compassion that I carry with me to this day.





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