I received a call the other night from a good friend of mine who was in New York City for a conference. She asked me if she could grab my ear for a minute and told me about something that was worrying her at work. She works in public affairs for a European company and represents the company in Washington and in the press. She speaks at industry conferences. She was telling me that they were facing a new situation and that she had written an article that was about to be released. She was feeling super vulnerable as she didn’t feel that she had her company’s backing. She went on to tell me that she had sent it over to her boss and to the powers that be in Europe that it had been approved. She said, I should have gone back and nudged them to make sure they had paid proper attention, because now I feel like they’re not standing behind me and I’m feeling very vulnerable.

Now, this is a person who’s very savvy. She’s a former journalist with top newspapers, so she’s accustomed to thinking of things from different angles. I could sense the alarm coming through her voice, but I don’t know the ins and outs of her industry, and that’s not what this was about. It was about me simply listening. After expressing my appreciation for her concerns to let her know I heard her, I said, “let me ask you this. What’s the worst thing that can happen? She said, Wow, that’s a good question. Let me think After a minute of silence, she said well, I guess the worst thing that can happen is that they don’t stand behind me and I must move on and find another job, and I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.

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