I Want to Take More Call
“You just call on me …. when you need a hand. We all need somebody to lean on.” Bill Withers
Musician Bill Withers died one year ago this week, and his legacy lives on in his music, which contains some important reminders for each of us. His most popular song, “Lean on Me,” is one that has crossed generations has been covered by numerous other artists. The lyrics are universal and incredibly timely for our present circumstances: “Lean on me, when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on, for it won't be long till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on … you just call ….”
I don’t know about you, but asking for help is not something that comes naturally or easily for me. And yet, I’m always glad to help when a colleague reaches out to me, and touched if one reaches out to me “just to check in.” While there was a time in my career when I may have been bothered and perhaps even felt a bit defensive by such an outreach (professional posturing = “I’m fine!”), those days are past for me. The emotional load we carry, even in pre-COVID times, is simply greater than any of us should be trying to carry alone.
What I do know is that I’m a lot more likely to both reach out for help and to be glad for those “check-ins” when I already have a trusting relationship with that colleague. How is that trust developed? By sharing life together.
So it was wonderful this past Friday to take the opportunity to check in with a colleague on the back porch of our house and just “hang-out” for an hour (which quickly turned into 2) with the sole purpose of checking in and catching up. I’ll be doing the same with one of my PeerRx partners this coming Friday (via Zoom) for our quarterly PRx90 check-in.
As Bill Withers reminds us, I want my colleagues to call on me when they need a hand and want to be totally comfortable doing the same with them, because we all really do need somebody to lean on. But I also want for them to call me when they don’t need a hand, when they simply want to check-in or even just hang-out. That’s the entire purpose of PeerRx – to share the journey together. All of it. And for that reason, I’m glad to “take more call.” That kind of “call me” is never an imposition. It is wisdom. Thanks for regularly choosing wisely. See you on the back porch ….