Caring is one of the foundation pieces of focusing on the 90%. You can't really see the positives in people without first caring enough to look for them.

I had so many people who cared about me at the beginning of my work career. One of the many things I did as part of my job at a tuxedo rental company was travel and I would take my tuxedos to small town men's wear stores and "pedal my wears". I would meet the owners of the small town stores that rented tuxedos from our head office location; putting faces to the voices on the phone. I met a lot of really great people during my travels; people who really cared.

I loved that responsibility! I was met with an interesting variety of responses. I was very young and as one store owner put it, "very female" in a very male world. I learned so much from those men on the road. I learned very early that if I made my age an issue, they would too. I was proud of what I did and I knew my stuff. That is all they needed to know.

One of my favorite owners was Walter. He was a kind, grey-haired man who always greeted me with such enthusiasm. He amazed me. When I visted Walter, he loved to take me for lunch at the local diner so while I waited for him in his store, I would watch him work his magic. He was calm and intentional and his smile warmed your soul. He knew everyone's name, what they bought last time and a bit of their personal life. He always had something nice to say about his customers. You could tell that he was well loved by his clients.

I grew up believing in the importance of asking people who know more than you, how they do what they do. Mentors shaped my life as a young entrepreneur and they do today as speaker. So one day I asked Walter, "How do you remember everyone's name and how do you know so much about your customers?" I wanted to be like him and I wanted to learn more about how he conducted his business.

Walter said, "I will teach you". With pen and paper in hand ready to write down his words of wisdom, I waited and he said, "Do you want to know the secret?" I nodded enthusiastically. He simply responded, "I care." I was 18 and not sure that that was a very good response but 25 years later I have come to see the wisdom in Walter's words and I still think about that special man's advice.

Every time I am introduced to someone, sit next to them on an airplane or listen to my children after school I ask myself, "Am I caring?"

We are so inclined to jump in, finish someone's sentence, want to be right; processing our own response or wait to tell them how terrible our life is in comparison to theirs...

What if we didn't? What if we just listened? What if we just cared?