Quote of the Day: Mary Kay Ash on Time & Perspective

Notice she uses the word “must” rather than “should.” “Should” is etiquette, optional, polite, and easily postponed. “Must” is a standard you’re accountable to, especially when your calendar is packed. That single syllable turns warmth from a personality trait into a practice: “No matter how busy you are, you must take time to make the other person feel important.”

Busyness is the modern alibi. We wear it like proof of usefulness, then spend our days skimming, messages half-read, meetings half-listened-to, people half-acknowledged. Ash’s line refuses the alibi. It argues that the real cost of speed isn’t exhaustion; it’s invisibility. When someone feels unseen, cooperation becomes compliance, customers become transactions, and teams become a set of tasks rather than a set of commitments. Attention is not a garnish. It’s the infrastructure of trust.

This is also a rebuke to distraction masquerading as productivity. A minute of undivided presence, eye contact, a remembered name, a question that isn’t a trap, prevents the slow leaks that drain organizations: misunderstandings, quiet resentment, avoidable turnover. The discipline is simple but not easy: treat recognition as work, not as a spontaneous mood. That’s how leadership becomes something people can feel, not just something they’re told.

Mary Kay Ash earned the right to be blunt about this. After being overlooked in a male-dominated sales world, she built Mary Kay Inc. around the Golden Rule and systematic recognition, proof that dignity scales when you design for it.

January invites resolutions about efficiency, output, and optimization. Try a better one: spend your time where it makes someone human again. In a culture that rewards performance, choosing humanity, making another person feel important, may be the most practical decision you make all year.