Sharing Some Insights

     A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a former business contact asking if I might be willing to meet for coffee or lunch one day.  Though I didn't know what the purpose of our conversation was, I was more than willing to meet.  There have been so many people who have been willing to share with me throughout my career, that I'm usually agreeable to meet with almost anyone with hardly a second thought.  Today was our day to meet.

     The person I met with is roughly the same age as me and owns his own business.  He's wrestling with a variety of strategic options and wanted to better understand some of what I went through over the past several years as I considered (and ultimately completed) the sale of our business, and as I transitioned to a new phase of my life.  I know how helpful it can be to hear from other similarly situated people who may have already experienced what you have yet to face.  It's hard to beat the wisdom that comes only from experience.  For this reason, I'm usually particularly open, honest, and transparent when engaging in these types of conversations; and I certainly was that way today.

     I think our conversation was helpful for this person, and I offered to assist in any way that I can in the future.  I suspect it was comforting to him to know that there is guidance available as he tries to navigate his own path.  I had also promised to send him some addition information that I thought would prove helpful and I did this as soon as I got home.

     Conversations like these are fun for me as they give me a chance to "pay forward" some of the kindness which was extended to me at critical points in my own career.  Hopefully this person will do the same for another somewhere down the road.  He is that kind of person so I would expect he's likely to do so . . . and another wave of kindness will have been sent out into the world.

By the way, I did drop off those diapers  today at the non-profit social service agency I mentioned in last night's post, and I also filled out an application to do some volunteer work for them.