You cannot do kindness (time with loved ones) too soon because...you don't know how soon it will be too late. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Point to Ponder: “All those honors are great, but personally I would ask that anyone who wants to pay tribute to me, for any reason, I would say there is one thing you could do above everything else and that is: Never let a day go by where you neglect to tell your loved ones that you love them.”  - Walter Payton, one of the top ten American football players of all time.

Story Line: In this FR, I would like to share a story about people and an event that has influenced my career and life in a significant way. The message is especially relevant in current times.

The story is about three executives from the high-tech industry: three superiors from my first job. Two were in their early-50s and the third was in their late-50s. All of them had very successful careers; one was a General Manager and President of a semiconductor division of a Fortune Fifty company by the time he was 38 years old. The second was the head of manufacturing and the third superior was the CEO of a company in Asia. For whatever reason, the two of them often related personal stories to me about their lives and careers. They were very kind to me and helped me improve my career as well as my personal life through their stories*.

It was the first week of March in 1984. At that time I had met two of them at a party the previous week and the third I met for dinner on the 8th. As in the past, they shared career reflections but what has stayed with me about that night is what they spoke about their families. Each one of them told me that they planned to retire in 2-5 years. They shared some of the things they planned to do in retirement, the most important to them was spending time with their families. They never got the time they wanted to spend with their families and felt retirement would allow them to make up for the time they missed over the years. The conversation then shifted to their plans for that Friday. They had taken time off from work to go fishing just outside Golden Gate Bridge, in the northern most point of San Francisco. Not really that big of a deal at the time and we finished dinner and parted ways. 

But that conversation still lingers in my memory, though the years have passed and I am older now than they were then. It haunts me to this day. 

Because on the following Sunday morning, I got a call from a friend. He asked me if I had read the newspaper. Those three people whom we knew dearly and respected immensely were missing at sea. They never returned nor were they ever found.

Reflection:

That event made a huge impact on me in shaping my life and career that followed. In 1989, I left a very senior job at a prestigious company because the position and the company environment would have required significant time away from my family. 

The reflections that two of three individuals in the story had shared had similar message as contained in the following paragraph from "Never Die Easy", the autobiography of Walter Payton:

Make everyday count. Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people you have never talked to before, and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have a right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don't believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you. You can make your life anything you wish. I hope my story is at least an example of that. Create your own life and then go out and live it with absolutely no regrets.

Most important thing though, if you love someone, tell him or her, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store. Remember, tomorrow is promised to no one.