The Leadership Star

5CELEBRATE

The hand‐written letter started like many others I've received over the years:

‘Dear Mr Hartzer,’ I read aloud. ‘I'm writing to thank you and draw to your attention the excellent service I've received from one of your staff.

‘Over the past year,’ the letter continued,

Jane Roberts has been enormously helpful in working through a number of complex financial issues, helping me sort out some of my loans, and even finding and clarifying issues around a number of my insurance policies, even though those policies aren't with your company.

‘Pretty standard stuff,’ I said, as I skimmed the letter. ‘Nice to hear though.’

I kept reading:

She has done this on her own time, outside of normal working hours, without ever being asked. On a number of occasions, she has even called me in the evenings to remind me that I needed to do something and offered to swing by my home in the morning to pick up the paperwork.

‘Wow, that's pretty dedicated,’ I said. The letter continued:

She does all of this with a smile — nothing is ever too difficult, and she's been a great support to my wife and family as well. And the Easter basket of chocolate bunnies and Kinder Surprises for my kids really went down a treat.

‘Easter basket?!’ I exclaimed, looking up from the letter. ‘That's serious dedication!’

And then the letter really grabbed my attention.

‘I would be impressed by this level of service at any time,’ the writer continued:

But the fact that I have cancer, and only have another two ...