Here’s an email I got three weeks ago from a friend and colleague I hadn’t heard from in a while. Here are some of his exact words:
“About two years ago, I had a stroke — thankfully, a mild one — but it forced me to slow down and rethink everything. After considerable rehab, I realized I needed to make major changes in my life. With the help of a great team, I redesigned how I approached my health, my work, and my priorities.
Through all of this, I finally learned what gratitude really means. I used to read your emails and think, “Yes, I should practice this,” but life was always so busy. I have what I call Gratitude Saturday, I was going to call it Star Saturday, and I may to explain it to my wife.”
He ended with this: “Bottom line: never think you don’t make an impact. I’m someone who finally understood it.”
I am a gratitude gap closer.
With the soon-to-be formal release of my next book, The Gratitude Gap, I will be getting more personal. I will be sharing more of my personal gratitude story. I have to clear it with my family first.
Why am I a gratitude gap closer? Because I had to learn it for myself first.
Because at some point, life will demand more gratitude than you currently have.
Not when things are easy.
When everything is not.
Because at some point, you will need more and stronger gratitude than you have now, to survive and thrive.
You will need it in moments of stress, uncertainty, chaos, complexity, reduced circumstances, disaster, or tragedy.
Instead of being numb, frozen, or stuck…
Strong gratitude lets you engage with life.
With strong gratitude, you choose, you act consciously in line with who you are and what you value, and move forward calmly and confidently. You are capable of doing your best regardless of the circumstances.
I didn’t set out to study, teach, write, or speak about gratitude.
I grew up with gratitude as a core belief. I know now not everyone did.
I went to college for my “MRS” degree, as my mother said—even though I had already married the boy next door at twenty.
I became a software engineer, even though in my heart, I was a teacher.
I led products with over half a billion in revenue and engineering teams of hundreds.
I did what I was supposed to do.
At the time, teaching didn’t pay the bills, and engineering was a “fine” career. I was reasonably smart and logical, so it made sense.
Over time, that ability to teach, translate, and facilitate became my strength.
I spent decades leading complex technical teams and organizations where performance mattered, outcomes were visible, and results were expected. I led products with revenues of over half a billion dollars and engineering teams of hundreds. I was promoted into senior leadership roles because I could translate, simplify, and make things work in real environments.
On paper, things looked right.
But underneath, something was off, personally and professionally.
Like many leaders, I believed I was doing the right things. What I was supposed to do.
But the results told a different story.
Twenty-five years ago, I turned to gratitude out of necessity. Not as a practice. As survival.
Now I focus on being a leadership coach, speaker, and writer as the Gratitude Gap Closer.
I work with leaders to expose and close the Gratitude Gap, translating intention into visible behaviors that build trust, confidence, and drive performance.
How and when did you know strong gratitude makes a difference?
