On a cold, snowy Pennsylvania evening, I had one of the loveliest, most special encounters with university graduate students ever! The gathering was held in Professor Shawn Kent Hyashi’s beautiful, welcoming home.  She teaches a Leadership class as “Executive-in-Residence” for the Lehigh University MBA Program. She is also the founder and CEO of The Professional Development Group LLC, is a High Performing Team Consultant and coach, and the best-selling author of Conversations that Get Results & Inspire Collaboration.

So we gathered around the fireplace and two large dinner tables bearing home-made, delicious food, to eat and share insights and stories about Grateful Leadership! I could hardly believe my good fortune. One of the students in the class, Chris Lukasevich, had learned of my work and “pitched” it to his professor who welcomed guest speakers into her home on a regular basis. I was delighted to be chosen, and loved every minute of the event. All had been “assigned” a segment of the Grateful Leadership book, and almost everyone had a story to relate to it.

As an example of this, I am delighted to share the wonderful story told to me by Yijun Zou (Joy), PDP Graduate Assistant.

(Story to follow in a future post)

And in honor of it being “National Puppy Day” today (isn’t that awesome?), I will share not only the wonderful class photos, but one of the precious, almost new-born puppy Shawn allowed us all to hold. I’m sure each of us present entertained the thought of putting this priceless pup into a pocket or a purse and disappearing into the night…. But of course, we gave him back and just kept our appreciation and gratitude for this special evening as our souvenirs.