What Are You Afraid To Ask For?

I was walking through Walmart when an older gentleman spotted me passing by and immediately asked for help. His wife was on FaceTime, but he couldn’t hear her. “Why can’t I hear her?” he asked, placing the phone in my hand before I could even respond. I turned up the volume, and just like that, he was back in conversation with his wife. He was so relieved that he never even stopped to say thank you.

I smiled and walked away. What stayed with me wasn’t the missing “thank you.” It was how easily he had asked a complete stranger for help. He had a problem. He saw someone who might be able to help. So he simply asked.

I was happy to help. But the encounter made me think: How often does this happen around us?

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness – it is the greatest sign of strength. ~Kendra Scott

As the world becomes increasingly digital, some people are unintentionally being left behind. Seniors may struggle with technology that was never part of their everyday lives. Employees arrive at work to discover that a familiar system has changed, sometimes with little or no advance training. Even something as routine as paying a bill can now require navigating an online portal, or facing a late fee for not using the new process correctly.

QR codes. Apps. Online registrations. Electronic programs. Digital payments. Even giving our tithes and offerings has increasingly moved online.

Technology may make life more convenient for many of us, but for others, it can make a once-simple task feel unnecessarily complicated.

And sometimes, there is no real choice. Learn the system, ask someone for help, or risk being left behind.

That’s what brought me back to the gentleman in Walmart. He didn’t pretend to understand. He didn’t allow embarrassment to stop him. He had a problem, saw someone who might be able to help, and he asked.

Perhaps there is a lesson in that for us all as leaders.