I’ve been off work for the last few weeks. Nothing dramatic, just one of those moments where your body firmly decides it needs to come first, and you don’t really get a vote in the matter.
I’d planned a quiet recovery. What I didn’t plan for was a package arriving at my door that genuinely stopped me in my tracks.
A gift that said more than words could
A client, a very special one, had sent a proper gift. Not a card, not a quick message. A beautifully curated box packed with everything you’d need to rest, recharge, and come back ready for anything. Think pampering, nourishment, warmth. The kind of thoughtful detail that only happens when someone actually sits down and thinks about you as a human being, not just a business contact.
I sat with it for a while, and I felt genuinely moved.
What it means to truly feel valued
In Learning & Development, we talk a lot about what it means to feel valued at work. Not appreciated in a generic, tick-box way, but seen. Recognised as a whole person, not just a role or a deliverable.
It’s one thing to discuss it in a workshop. It’s another to experience it firsthand, unexpectedly, on a quiet Tuesday morning when you’re still in your pyjamas.
That gift was a masterclass in it. And it was a powerful reminder of why this work matters, not just the programmes and the frameworks, but the relationships that grow alongside them.
A thank you that deserves to be said publicly
With a packed few months of leadership and team development programmes ahead, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to return to full health. So to Magna International, thank you. Genuinely. This kind of gesture is rare, and it means more than you know.
And a heartfelt thank you too to the Live Learning team, and especially to Jack Pinter, for their support throughout.
Some client relationships go beyond the professional. This is one of them, and it’s exactly the kind of partnership that makes this work so rewarding.
