You're going to hate me, but this was a pun.

I've been reading ghost stories about Door County. A book I picked up when we moved to town.

One thing that strikes me as odd is how friendly all the ghosts are.

You think of "ghost" and immediately a horror movie comes to mind. Some demon or violent spirit who wants to eat your soul.

Sometimes it's easy to forget not all ghosts want to hurt people. Some are just hanging around because they have "unfinished business," and that isn't always a bad thing.

This one story told of a young boy who was beloved by all the residents of Fish Creek.

His name was Huey Melvin.

Everyone in town knew him because he made an effort to talk to everyone he met.

A charismatic little guy, for sure.

One day he died of tetanus.

Tragic. If he were born a few decades later, he might have been vaccinated against it.

They say he can be spotted at night near Pioneer Cemetery where he was buried.

It's in Peninsula State Park. My wife & I went there for the first time recently.

The cemetery's deep in the woods, though, and you have to be looking for it to find it.

My favorite piece of this tale was this family who visits his grave every time they go camping at the park.

One time they didn't go visit the grave, and he showed up at the inn where they were staying.

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I don't know if it's true. I mean, it's a ghost story after all.

But there's a lesson in there, I think.

If you show up consistently, people notice. Even ghosts.

The time and attention they gave to little Huey resulted in Huey learning to expect them.

You might even say he looked forward to seeing them.

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In a time where companies and teams seem so ready to let people go, it's worth considering the impact you have on the people around you.

When performance reviews roll around, you might have a better shot at a good review if you've made the effort to deepen relationships with your team members.

How do you do that?

• Look for opportunities to help, and go out of your way to be the one helping while others are busy
• When you say you're going to do something, actually do it. Don't promise what you can't deliver.
• Take some interest in other people's personal lives from time to time. Nobody expects you to be their best friend, but a little goes a long way with most people. Sometimes they'll have a bad day, and it helps to know people care.

See if you can inject a little humanity and concern for others into your day.

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It's not that you deserve special treatment for taking interest in others.

I'm not asking you to be some manipulative Machiavellian weirdo.

But ask yourself how much it would mean to you if on a boring or rough day, someone asked you how you were doing, and actually cared about the response.

Think about why you wouldn't want to do that for your team.

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Cheers,

Steven

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