The Best Question Anyone Ever Asked Me

This week was my birthday and as often happens when we complete another lap around the sun, I took time to reflect. To look in the metaphorical mirror at me and see if I am the person that — deep down — I want to be…to look at my life and see if it’s the one that I want to be living.

You see, many years ago when I was working in corporate America I had a conversation that changed my life. I didn’t know it at the time, but that discussion would prove pivotal in setting the tone and direction for everything I have done since and in providing the fire in my belly, the why behind the how, and the vision that weaves my daily steps into a tapestry of passion and purpose.

It was my first session with my first mentor, a senior leader at the international oil and gas firm where I had been working for a year or so. In preparation for our first meeting, he’d given me an assignment that sounded fairly straightforward: tell me what you want to be known for in 25 years. For two weeks I chewed on that question, tasting the flavor of different answers and sketching out what would become the bones not only of my career but my life from that day on.

I walked into the conference room and sat down, nervous about what he would think of my answer. After all, I had no idea if I’d done this right at all! He mentored seventeen other people at the time…