It was our first morning in New Orleans and Jonathon and I spent it having breakfast at a place called “Mother’s. Fried eggs, biscuits, gravy, sausage, grits – forget about the Atkins Diet in New Orleans. And besides the great food, the southern charm of “hey sweetie” was a nice change from the typical NYC luncheonette, “What da ya want?” We both liked the idea of a father and son starting the day at a place called “Mother’s.” After all, it’s where the vast majority of us first start. Our first leader, if you will. For most of us it started at a place called Mother’s.

One of the things that made us laugh hysterically this morning is that I showed up at breakfast in a gray t-shirt and shorts and Jon showed up in a button down polo shirt and dress slacks (“brand-me-downs’ I had sent him.) I didn’t want to clash with his laid back style and he didn’t want to overly contrast with my business-like demeanor. We dressed as the other prefers for the sake of making the other feel comfortable. After we got through laughing at ourselves, we realized that something was going on: sensitivity about who we each were. Sometimes to acknowledge and show you have respect for somebody else, you need to downplay your persona and get into theirs…and to laugh about it! When you see beyond appearances and labels, you get a chance to speak right to the heart of a person. How many of us take the time to do that with our colleagues at work? Life would be so different if we did.