What People Actually Remember: Go to the Funeral
Article 8 in the Leadership in Real Life Series.
Jennifer Youngblood
6/3/20261 min read
Go to the funeral.
My team member had only been with us a short time when he lost his mom. The service was in a small town in Maryland I'd never heard of, more than an hour away. No one else from our office came.
I almost talked myself out of going. I worried about finding it. About being late. About not knowing what to say.
I made it with a few minutes to spare. It was a small church, full of his family and his mother's friends. I knew no one.
He saw me when I walked in. I could tell he was surprised.
Afterward, I told him I had to come. That I was so very sorry about his mom. That was all I had. They were heading to the cemetery, and I drove home.
He thanked me for coming many times over the years that followed. Every time, I thought: it was the least I could do.
But to him, it wasn't small at all.
Leadership shows up most clearly in the moments that aren't on your calendar.
People don't remember your words in those moments. They remember that you showed up. That you saw them not just as an employee, but as a person with a life, a family, a loss that mattered.
You don't have to know what to say. You just have to go.
Be uncomfortable. It's worth it.
Leadership in Real Life. What People Actually Remember: Go to the Funeral
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