I spent a weekend recently with one of my closest friends, someone I’ve known for nearly 27 years. He lives in Savannah, Georgia as we don’t see each other nearly enough, and when we do, the time tends to be memorable.
This particular weekend was memorable for a reason I didn’t expect. Everywhere we went, restaurants, hotels, valet stands, and retail stores, the service we received was exceptional. Not adequate, not good, but genuinely exceptional. We were seated at the best tables, our car came out first from the valet even when others had been waiting longer, every server checked on us more than they needed to, and hosts remembered our names before we gave them a second time.
At first I thought it was coincidence. By the second day I realized it wasn’t, as it was due to my friend.
The Habit That Changed Every Room
Erik made every interaction intentional. With every person he encountered, the valet attendant, the restaurant host, the server, the busser, and the retail associate, he asked for their name. And then he used it. Not once, but throughout the entire interaction, naturally and genuinely. He thanked them every time they did anything. And I noticed him quietly saving each name in his phone before we moved on, so he’d remember it if he saw them again.
He wasn’t performing, he wasn’t networking, he wasn’t building a strategy, but he was simply making people feel seen. And every room responded. The upgrade to the better table, the car at the front, and the server who came back three times to make sure everything was right. None of it was transactional, it was the natural response of people who had been genuinely acknowledged, who felt that the person they were serving actually noticed them as a human being rather than a function.
I’ve spent twenty years inside global organizations studying what makes certain professionals unforgettable. I’ve read the research, sat in the calibration rooms, and observed hundreds of leaders across dozens of industries. What I watched Erik do all weekend was the same thing the research and the observation consistently point to, and almost nobody teaches explicitly.
The Executive Who Did The Same Thing At Scale
When I thought about who Erik reminded me of professionally, one name came to mind immediately. Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of Burberry, and former Senior Vice President of Retail at Apple. One of the most influential business executives of the last two decades and one of the most memorable leaders I’ve had the privilege of observing up close during my career.
Angela possessed an extraordinary level of intellect and strategic capability. That goes without saying at her level. But when I think about what made her truly unforgettable, what made professionals at every level of the organization walk away from any interaction with her feeling genuinely different, it was the same quality I watched Erik demonstrate at every table and every valet stand all weekend.
She remembered your name, she acknowledged you, and she thanked you. For an executive leading a global, multibillion-dollar iconic fashion house, managing thousands of employees across dozens of countries, responsible for one of the world’s most recognized luxury brands, she somehow made you feel seen and valued despite the enormous weight of what she was carrying. That is not a small thing.
In most organizations, the further you rise, the more transactional your interactions become. The senior executive who makes eye contact, remembers a name, and says thank you — genuinely, not performatively, is rare enough that people remember it for years. Angela was that executive, and it is why she remains one of the most memorable leaders of my career.
What This Actually Is And Why Most Professionals Underestimate It
There’s a framework in my book, The Ultimate Impression, built around four disciplines that determine how professionals are experienced by the people around them. One of them is Connection. Not connection as networking, and not connection as relationship management or strategic relationship building. But connection as presence. The specific, deliberate act of making another person feel that they matter, in this conversation, in this moment, to this specific professional they’re interacting with right now.
It is the most underestimated professional skill I’ve ever observed. Because it doesn’t show up on any resume. It doesn’t come from any certification program. It doesn’t require a title, a platform, or a position of authority. A 27-year friend from Savannah can practice it with a valet attendant and produce results that a $500 dinner tab couldn’t buy.
And an executive leading a multibillion-dollar global company can practice it with a junior employee in a hallway, and create a memory that outlasts every performance review, promotion, and strategic initiative that professional will ever experience.
The professionals who build the deepest organizational trust, who create the kind of credibility that opens doors, generates loyalty, and produces the informal advocacy that determines who advances, almost always have this quality in common. They make people feel seen, not all the time, not perfectly, not as a performance, but as a habit.
The One Thing Worth Doing Differently This Week
Erik’s habit didn’t require planning. It didn’t require preparation or strategy or any investment beyond the decision to pay attention to the person in front of him. He simply asked for the name, then used it, and he said thank you and meant it. He saved it so he’d remember, and every room responded.
The research on what makes professionals memorable, what builds the kind of trust and credibility that determines career trajectory, consistently points to the same behaviors. Clarity, composure, credibility, and connection. Of all four, connection is the one most professionals believe they practice and the one most often observed as absent in the rooms where advancement decisions actually get made.
It costs nothing to practice. It compounds over time in ways that are difficult to quantify and impossible to fake.
This week — make one interaction memorable for someone who wasn’t expecting it. Use their name, thank them, mean it, and pay attention to the person in front of you as if they are the most important part of this particular moment. Because in that moment, they are. And you never know how long it stays with them.
About Isaac Adesugba
Isaac is a Southern California-based Global People & Talent Management Executive, author of The Ultimate Impression (available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on Amazon), and Corporate Readiness speaker. He works with professionals, universities, and organizations on the trust and credibility disciplines that determine career trajectory before any formal evaluation process begins.
First 90 Coach, his free AI coaching tool built on these frameworks, is now rebranding to The Impression Advantage Coach — available on the OpenAI GPT Store.
The Impression Advantage Workshop — a half or full-day engagement for new hire cohorts, newly promoted managers, and organizations navigating transition is also available. Request a proposal at careeradvicebyisaac.com.
