The 11th impression

A friend and a great man passed away yesterday. This was not a man who I would say made a great first impression. My guess would be that many people walked away from him after the first meeting thinking, "Who does he think he is?" or something to that affect. This was a man who called it like he saw it and didn't apologize for it. My first and probably tenth impression of him was not a great one. I am so grateful that I had an opportunity for the 11th impression. This was a man who cared more about people than what they thought of him. Was he always right? Was he always effective? Did his message always get through? Of course not. The thing is that he had the courage to voice his opinion and he was coming from love. I remember being in a meeting the first time I met him and thinking why doesn't this guy just back off and leave me alone? The answer, I would later find out was because he cared, even though he didn't know me. "You never know how far you can go, unless you are willing to go too far". Steve Stark was willing to go too far and in the process countless people took a deeper look at themselves and were better for it....including myself. The lesson this great man has left with me is to not be afraid to take in feedback from all sources and to trust that I may have something to offer to someone else and to not be afraid to say it. Thank you Steve.....you will be missed.