In some ways, our relationships with other people resemble plants in that they require ongoing nourishment or they will die from neglect.

Doug Conant and Mette Norgaard are the co-authors of TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments. They stress the great importance of “being present in the moment and feeling confident that you can deal with whatever happens in a way that is helpful to others.” Think about it. How many times, on average, during your waking hours do you interact with other people? Each encounter offers an opportunity to make such contact mutually beneficial. ToughPoints can also involve sources of inspiration, knowledge, and cultural enrichment.

Conant and Norgaard help their reader to prepare for them, create circumstances in which they can occur, and then when they do, ensure that the shared experience has great value to everyone involved. The approach must be crystal clear, the intentions must be honorable, and the competencies must be applied with humility and gratitude as well as with confidence.

As they observe when concluding their book, “The beauty of TouchPoints is that they are both approachable and aspirational: every moment is an opportunity aim for mastery, while achieving mastery will remain an elusive target. That’s because mastery is not a destination – it’s a quest. It is a commitment to developing ever greater clarity and capabilities so that you may become ever more helpful for the moment.”

May your own journey continue from one meaningful TouchPoint to the next.