How to be An “Encourager” in the Workplace
By: Christine Kane, a special to Overdrive
Long ago, when I first shared my dream of becoming a professional musician with one of my friends, she knitted her brows and said, “Huh?”The dire warnings she fired off didn’t surprise me. Hey, most of us have had a lifetime filled with this kind of “practical advice.” And I was used to giving up in the face of it. During this fumbling stumbling time, I met a man who became an unlikely best friend and mentor. He was a brilliant jazz musician as well as a self-employed computer programmer. One night, I told him my dream. Without even blinking, he said, “Honey (he always called me Honey), you’d be fabulous. That’s perfect!” And he meant it. At that moment, I felt like flying. I had never experienced such direct and truthful support without a single “practical” warning attached. This friend set me free by offering one simple thing: