There are many people in the world who are more famous, more accomplished, and more powerful than I am at any given moment. 

And I’ve realized that there have been times when I’ve let that stop me. It has stopped me from asking them to join us at a dinner party at our place or join me for coffee. It has sometimes made me hesitate in asking them to speak at something I’m organizing or attend an event. 

But I re-learned an important lesson recently when I reached out to a well-known author and thought leader to ask her to speak at a conference I’m organizing. As I was typing my email, the voice in the back of my head kept saying “Who are you to be asking her? She’s famous. She’s not going to want to participate. This won’t be important to her.”

I hit send anyway. And waited. 

And then something unexpected happened. She wrote me back. And it was not a rejection.

Instead she said this: “So great to hear from you! I had actually be meaning to reach out to you. I love what you’re doing.” 

Right. 

The exact opposite response of what I expected. 

And all I needed to do was ask. 

Lesson (re)learned.