I read an interesting article some years back in which a consultant described the experience of his client's passing, and how he had to cope with the situation--both within himself and regarding his relationship with the organization. It was eye-opening and reminded me of a case where a member of the senior leadership team in an organization I served fell victim to Lou Gehrig's disease. Despite the toll it took on the body, the leader insisted that the organization carried on. And it did.

Now that I am older, this episode carries much more meaning. Searching for a term to describe how the members of the organization responded, I came to use the term grace. Grace is typically associated with religion, but is also defined non-religiously as “the condition or fact of being favored.” But grace is normally thought of as an characteristic of the individual. In this episode, I tell my story and explore the idea of grace at the organizational level.