Earlier this year, my son Matt called and asked whether I’d fly to Chicago to sit in on a business meeting with him.
He’s building a commercial real estate company—buying, improving, and selling industrial properties—and a contact had brought him a warehouse deal. The group trying to acquire the warehouse knew Matt’s background as an industrial broker. The group also knew I was once in that business, leading an industrial real estate company. The group wanted both of us in the room.
I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure how much I’d actually contribute. The market has shifted. It’s been years since I was in the day-to-day grind. I thought about how much the world had moved on without me.
But something interesting happened. The moment we sat down and the group started walking through their deal, decades of pattern recognition just kicked in.
I started asking questions where my experience mattered. One observation led to another, and before I knew it, I was in it, reviewing their site plan, working through their numbers, and helping them think through how to enhance the investor package.
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I flew home feeling something I hadn’t expected. It wasn’t pride or feeling accomplished in the way closing a big deal used to feel. It was something quieter and deeper than that.
Matt walked out of that room with a real shot at becoming a partner—and a leader—on the deal, and that was important to me. Here’s what I’ve reflected on since then: The most satisfying moments of my recent life have had almost nothing to do with my own achievements. They’ve come from watching people I care about win and knowing I had some small part in that.
I think a lot of leaders are surprised by this shift when it comes. You spend the first half of your career chasing outcomes. But somewhere along the way, if you’re paying attention, the scoreboard changes. The wins that register most deeply become the ones you’ll never put on a resume.
Many of you know I wrote a book about transformative influence, so you know I’m passionate about it. But here’s something I didn’t fully anticipate: Even though my career was largely behind me, I could still be rewarded by applying the same philosophy in the things I do now.
That week in Chicago was just a Tuesday. And yet, there it was: the same truth I put into words years ago was playing out quietly in real life.
The most meaningful work of your career just might be the influence you have on everyone around you.
Leaders who understand this tend to find that the second chapter of their career is richer than the first, not because the stakes are higher but because the rewards never get old.
