Lani Shaw, Executive Director of General Service Foundation, passed away on June 1, 2014. She was 46 years old, and she leaves behind two young kids, Jack and Katie.

Lani was a friend and a great supporter of what I’m trying to do. I mostly knew her through her colleagues, Renee Fazzari and Holly Bartling, but she had a profound impact on me.

We first met last August over lunch with Renee. I was in the midst of what turned out to be the most difficult period of my transition away from consulting and into capacity-building. I was working on ideas in which I deeply believed, but I was badly in need of meaningful validation, and I ended up talking much more than I usually do.

Lani listened thoughtfully and carefully, and she offered a few suggestions afterward. Over the next several months, she started following both my personal and professional blogs, often leaving supportive, thoughtful comments on my Facebook page. She was incredibly self-reflective, and there was always something very real about everything she wrote and shared.

Part of the reason I left consulting was that I wanted to find ways to have a bigger impact on the world. One of the things that consultants, startups, and foundations all have in common is that we all look for big numbers somewhere, anywhere, as a proxy for impact.

Being conscious of these indicators without becoming beholden to them requires great discipline, in large part because nothing in this crazy world of ours is linear. Small acts ripple into vast movements in ways that we don’t understand and can’t predict. The impact business is one part science, two parts luck, and three parts religion. Most of what we do comes down to faith.

I’m not sure what big numbers to point to when it comes to the impact that Lani had on the world. But I and the many people whose lives she touched don’t need those numbers. We all know.

I know, because I know how much she touched my life in such a short amount of time.

I know, because I know how I felt every time we interacted.

I know, because I saw how she ran her organization and the relationship she had with her staff. They were all equally committed to their mission, their community, and to each other.

I know, because I saw the relationship she had with her colleagues, her grantees, her community, her friends.

I know, because I know how I felt when I learned of her passing. I hadn’t known her long, but I felt deep, deep pain. And I quickly learned how widely that pain continues to be felt, how many people Lani loved and touched and who love her in return.

I used to believe that impact starts with how you treat yourself and how you treat others. The more I meet people like Lani, the more I believe that impact is only about those two things. I’m not sure anything else matters.

Lani was kind, humble, funny, and fierce. She cared tremendously about her family, her friends, and the world at large. The world is a better place because of who she was and how she lived her life, and I feel blessed to have known her.

Donations to help support her kids, Jack and Katie, can be made to the Lani Shaw’s Children Fund at Alpine Bank, 600 E. Hopkins Avenue, Aspen, Colorado 81611.