The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

It is believed there will be a lot of people attending.

I mean 4-figure levels of attendees … which is testimony to the impact she made on people.

While I didn’t know her long, we bonded pretty deeply and I saw first hand her ability to connect to people. It was in many ways, her superpower. Not in the sense it was some sort of manipulative trick, but in the sense she saw the good in others and wanted to help them realise it in ways they may not have seen was possible.

But she did it time and time again.

Different people.
Different cities.
Different jobs.

We need more people like that.

People who give rather than just take.
People who share rather than just keep.
People who view success as helping others achieve, not just elevating their own glory.

But what made her truly special was that she didn’t play down to populism, she lived up to a standard.

She wanted to do great, she wanted others to be great and she had the experience and taste to know what both were.

That’s the essential ingredient missing from so many people in the industry – especially the Linkedin guru’s – but she had it in her droves.

I’m still utterly distraught about her passing. We all are.

She didn’t just make the work better, she made you want to be better and as talents go, that’s a pretty amazing one.

Relationships are strange.

You can know some people for decades and not really be impacted by their presence and there’s some you can meet for what seems like a moment in time, and be impacted by them for years. Decades even.

Lisa was in the latter and that’s why, from a purely selfish level, I feel robbed.

Robbed of the time I was going to have with her.

Robbed of the conversations and lessons I’d have learned with her.

Robbed of the possibilities and opportunities I’d have created with her.

I appreciate it feels crass to say this when there are people who have lost so much more with her passing. My intention is not to offend and if I’ve done that, I apologies wholeheartedly. This is just my very clumsy attempt to say that if Lisa could make a relative stranger feel so strongly towards her – as a person and a professional – in just 4 short months, then I cannot imagine the sense of loss the people who knew her … worked with her … and loved her for much longer are feeling.

And to them, I offer my deepest and sincerest condolences.

She may be gone, but my god … she won’t be forgotten.

I’m back tomorrow to celebrate my dear Otis’ 10th birthday.

Death and birth …

A reminder the circle of life is real, even if it feels cruel.

And with that, I say goodbye and thank you to Lisa.

For everything you did and all that you were.

I feel very fortunate to have known you.

Rx