Reading your column is part of my Monday morning ritual. I soak up your always great ideas, insights, and advice and then hope for a chance to use them sooner than later…”later” meaning days, weeks, sometimes years after.

However, just hours after reading last week’s “Relationship over Resume” piece, I had an audition for a role in a feature film. The audition went well. Not terrific, but well enough (I thought) even though I got no clues, visually or verbally, about my performance from either the director, co-producer, or lead actor who were all in the room.

I did however get from them that my warm response to their friendly greeting before the audition, my genuine interest in the project, and the great, tension-releasing laugh we all shared after the reading that they were impressed by me as not only a professional actor, but also as a person they would like to spend time and work with.

As I was leaving the building, your column from that morning struck me like lightning. My “relationship reading” had perhaps gone better than my audition read. I told myself that if I got cast (and I did), it was likely because they remembered the relationship (it might have helped that the audition wasn’t taped) more than they remembered my “good enough” read. Of course, there’s no way to know for sure (I tend to judge my auditions pretty harshly — it probably was better received than I think), but I wanted to share with you that while it was possibly a testament to your “Relationship Over Resume” advice, it was even more likely an example of “Relationship Over Reading.”

Thanks again for all that you do.