How fertile your soil is makes a difference as to how things are going to grow. I’m not talking about literal soil here. I’m talking about the soil of your life. Think of all the experiences you have had in your life up until now as the ingredients that make up the very rich compost in which you get to plant the seeds of your future.

I was in Seattle recently and had my backpack stolen by a person experiencing houselessness. It was my fault. I left it unattended on a table of a coffee shop and wandered into the adjacent lobby of the building it was in. I saw a houseless man walk in and thought nothing of it. When I came back, my backpack was gone. Had I been him- desperate, hungry, living on the streets- I probably would have taken it too.

If you’re a leader in business, you know that people come to you with ideas all the time. Some of them you love, some you like ok, and some you just plain old don’t like. What do you usually say to your employees when you don’t like one?