My work sometimes takes me around the world and other times it takes me right across the Puget Sound. Everywhere I go, I find people who are doing difficult work thoughtfully, brilliantly, kindly, taking care of each other too, in simple yet meaningful ways.

Friends gathered in my backyard in Tacoma on a warm summer Sunday evening to enjoy dinner and catch up on life. Tom* retired in June from a thirty year elementary school teaching career, and Patty retired from teaching college just two years ago.

Seated next to me on the airplane last week on a flight to Salt Lake City was Glenn, a friendly, talkative dentist from Alaska. He was headed to a dental conference while I was going to Park City to spend the weekend in conversation with friends exploring humanity at the center of our work…

The 2nd class train from Nice, France, to Ventimiglia, Italy, is overflowing on this sunny weekday morning in September. Commuters heading to work mix with tourists like me on holiday. Luggage fills the aisles. Children sit on laps. Passengers stand in the vestibule between cars, sweaty and crowded…

“I have a story about fear at work for you.”

David* declared this as we sat down to lunch in the café in my office building. He and a colleague worked in the private sector and were visiting A Human Workplace: Olympia from another state. I forgot about my lunch as he shared his story.

I was eating my breakfast in the hotel when Julia, the hotel’s shuttle driver, kindly asked if she could take my bag to the shuttle as I finished my breakfast.

“Of course! Thank you!” I said pleasantly surprised at the attentiveness of the staff.

“Amor.”

This word surprised the group of 30 people from the Lean construction community gathered for a workshop at the Catalonia Institute for Construction Technology (iTeC) in Barcelona where I was on holiday.

I opened the passenger door of the rideshare car on October 31st to a small surprise: The friendly, petite woman driver greeted me cheerfully wearing a Mardi Gras mask! I returned her greeting as I got in and noticed she had a beautiful, complex spider web pattern shaved into her hair.