Bringing it

I was walking through an airport the other day and saw a huge ad on a window with the headline, “Bring It.”

I love this phrase. We talk all the time about what knowledge, skills and nuances people bring to a discussion. What perspectives, attitude and even prejudices do people have? What do they bring to the table? Which all begs the question, what do you bring?

What do you bring to the table, to the discussion? Am I upbeat? In a good mood? Do I laugh enough? Do my positive contributions offset my uncanny abilities to burn toast and mangle the French language? More importantly, a potential publisher or acquiring editor is looking at what you bring. It isn’t just the author platform or what you know. What do you bring to a relationship? To your work? To your patients? Because it is about you. It’s about what you bring.

What can you contribute every day? What challenges are you up to facing? Can you bring it?

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.