The sales training session ended almost 45 minutes earlier and the participants were still chatting in small groups around the room. Launching at 8:45 a.m. with regular breaks and a 40-minute lunch, you’d figure they would be high-tailing it out of there at 5 p.m. It was approaching 5:45 when Kat, the CEO — part of one of those small groups — approached.

A friend sent this simple text this week: “Inspire me.”

It was a standard recruiter reference call with the standard questions that are received with ever greater frequency: How long did she work for you? What are her strengths? What are her weaknesses? Would you hire her again?