I have a younger colleague who has trouble processing her thoughts, and during a staff meeting, it isn’t any better. And sometimes, I have more patience than other times- like the time the other day.

“Hi Margie! What’s the news?” I asked.

“I saw a…….I saw a…… I saw a……I saw a…… I saw a…… I saw a….. This weekend I saw a….. I saw a…….helicopter and…..” Margie began.

Meanwhile, as president of the board, I could have nipped it in the bud- as I normally do, but this time, I just waited her out.

“This weekend I saw a…. helicopter and it was….. it was…. it was…” she continued.

And while she was still trying to get out the one sentence to recap her weekend, my other team members stared with imploring eyes to do something.

Instead, I allowed her to finally add her last word, “loud,” and looked around the room at my impatient flowers and gave what appeared to be a sympathetic wink.

In reality, I was dozing in.