In her memoirs, No Higher Honor, Condoleezza Rice recalls that the elevators at the Liberian President’s Office were out of order during their visit. This meant that President George W. Bush and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had to climb five flights of stairs.

The unexpected challenge was that Sirleaf struggled to keep up. Bush quickly came up with a considerate solution: at each landing, he pretended to need a break—giving Sirleaf time to rest without drawing attention to her fatigue. A simple, clever gesture that spoke volumes.