All Aboard!

Challenges are disguised as opportunities sometimes, or at least that's how it seems. I am reading this book, this book that speaks to me, and thinking it must be the exact right time to read it. That happens, doesn't it: life is merrily skipping along and then something intersects at the exact moment you need it -- a passage in a book, news from a friend, a bit of luck, a prophetic movie -- and off you go in another direction.

The set up is this: a young executive has hit a crisis point and seeks out a successful mentor for help. Through a series of introductions, the young executive learns some life-changing fundamental truths. I read and re-read the chapters and wondered if some of these lessons lay dormant in a little corner inside of me: namely, giving feels better, action improves lives, others come first, the necessity of believing in yourself, what a gift it is to really listen, and all of those values and lessons together defines your success in business.

I hear my parents voices still and their life lessons. All except this last part, the part where business can operate on the same principles of compassion and merit and fairness, and I have to admit I believe the opposite, that a job is a job, just a paycheck, and I do not define it.

I roll over and over the words of the book as I try to envision a business world that mirrors the values of an exemplary life, that embeds who I am and what I believe with my contributions. How would it feel to safely carry along others while pursuing my dreams and let everyone win?

In such a world, I would grab the handrail of that fast moving train and throw all of me aboard. I wouldn't know the destination, only the rightness of the journey, like a dream but for real. Such a train would be full to the brim but I'd be on it.