Recently, I spoke to a group of Vanderbilt University students. The university has a class for aspiring entrepreneurs that regularly brings in business owners to share their professional experiences. When I inquired what it was they would like me to speak about, my instructions were to “just tell your story and share the lessons you’ve learned over the years.”

So I gave some thought to what I’ve learned about business in my nearly 25-year professional career and came up with a few things I felt might be worthy of sharing with the class. I’m not sure that I’d ever really reflected on it before, but in going through this exercise to prepare for my talk with the students it became very clear to me that of all the lessons I’ve learned in my career — and this applies to my personal life as well — one stands out above all the others.

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Last week I wrote about the importance of employee recognition and described our company’s version of the “employee of the year” award. I got to thinking about our most recent award recipient and what set her apart from her peers. What was it about this award winner that caused her coworkers to nominate her and made her worthy of such a distinction? She must demonstrate attributes that every employee could learn from. If not, she wouldn’t have been recognized as being the “best of the best” by her colleagues and management. So what makes a great employee?

Our employee of the year for 2009, Kim Mesecher, was an incredibly deserving candidate. In fact, her contributions during the past year made her a clear winner of the award. But Kim isn’t new to the company or someone who was recently promoted into management. Kim has been with the company for more than 16 years.

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Employee recognition is an important, and often overlooked, part of management. Everyone likes to know that their contributions are recognized and appreciated. Yet, as managers, we all get wrapped up in the day-to-day activities of the business and can lose sight of the need to show our appreciation for the efforts our people make.

And the thing is, it doesn’t take much to let people know that their work is important and valued. A quick note in their box thanking them for finishing up a big project can do the trick. A short email praising them for closing a sale can let them know you’re paying attention. A quick pat on the back or just sticking your head in the door when you’re walking by shows them that you’re aware of the work they’re doing. I’ve even heard it suggested that a quick note or call to the employee’s spouse or significant other is a great way to let a valued employee know that they’re appreciated. None of this takes more than a few minutes, but it can be an invaluable management tool.

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I came away from last week’s health care summit scratching my head. What exactly was accomplished that moved our country one step closer to resolution of the health care debate? From what I can tell, absolutely nothing.

There was certainly plenty of posturing. Both Democrats and Republicans pretended to be interested in working with the other party to make progress on health care. There was a lot of preening with members of Congress congratulating themselves for what was in the current bills. The politics were clearly visible with some participants playing to the camera and the public more than advancing the purpose of the meeting. And partisanship was on full display as members of each party tossed out dueling statistics to prove that their party’s ideas were better and more widely accepted by the American voters.

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