“I was heading to Ottawa for a keynote shortly after my father passed away. He had left behind two old family paintings that had been passed down for generations, but we knew absolutely nothing about their origins. On a whim, I emailed a random contact at the National Gallery of Canada. After being passed around several departments, I landed on the desk of an art historian.

He didn't just answer my email—he invited me in. I booked off the entire day before my show, and this incredibly kind historian gave me a private tour deep through the gallery's massive, restricted archives, walking rows and rows of boxed art history before reviewing my pieces. They weren't long-lost priceless masterpieces, but he unlocked their true origins for my family.

As Mr. Rogers famously said, 'The world is full of helpers.' But to find them, you have to be willing to lift your head up, take a risk, and actively ask for help. In business, building a resilient culture means training your teams to do exactly that: look up from their silos, trust the experts around them, and have the courage to ask for collaboration.”