This morning I had the pleasure of taking my children to school. Uncharacteristically, after dropping Harrison off, we were running a little behind schedule. After two minutes into the second leg of the trip, Henry asked “Daddy, do you know a shortcut?”
This is a question that my namesake has been asking me regularly for all of the 10 years that he’s been able to speak. My reaction to his question is always the same.
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- I am surprised! Doesn’t my son realize that any self-respecting, red-blooded, American male thinks about the shortest distance between two points every time he picks up the car keys?
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- I consider the question. Does he have a point? Is there a better or more efficient way of getting to where we are going? Given traffic patterns, the weather and my mood; have I chosen the best route to take?
- Nine out of 10 times I respond: “Son, this is the shortcut.”
Today I was also reminded of the book “Oh The Places You’ll Go,” by Dr. Seuss. My friend Raquel gave me a copy more than 20 years ago and I’ve kept in on my bookshelf ever since that time.
When Raquel and I first met I was a brand new college graduate, and I was in a hurry! You see, the world had been waiting for me to offer leadership and to claim more than my share of the American dream… and I could not disappoint.
Armed with a fresh new piece of lambskin, a navy blue suit from Boyd’s, a few custom-made French cuff shirts, a tie from Armani and shoes from Ferragamo; I had people to meet, places to go, deals to cut and goals to accomplish – yesterday! (I’m sure that I was the epitome of the saying that “you can always tell a Morehouse man, but you can’t tell him…”)
Raquel was a hot shot commercial banker with a venerable Manhattan institution. She had an MBA from a top tier school, an attitude to match and a salary that was at least twice mine. At that time it seemed that this woman had made it, while I was just getting started. Naturally, Raquel seemed like a good person for me to befriend in hopes that there might be something she could teach me about becoming a master of the universe.
Nearly two years after we’d met, I called my friend to tell her that I would be leaving the New York area to attend business school at the University of North Carolina. Happy for me, we set a date to have lunch to celebrate the next time that I was on the island.
When we met we spent time getting caught up on mutual friends, trading anecdotes of progress and challenges at work and discussing my expectations and fears for the ensuing two years. Raquel also gave me a gift – “Oh The Places You’ll Go.”
While grateful and moved by her thoughtfulness, I must admit that I was also just a touch underwhelmed. Why would someone give a grown man a Dr. Seuss book as a gift? When I read the book, of course, I understood just how appropriate it was. More impactful however, was the inscription that she added: “There are no shortcuts, Henry.”
Over time these words have proven to be profound in their simplicity.
I’ve found that life’s road is neither simple nor straight. The path to successes has, in most cases, taken longer than planned and been more challenging than anticipated. Hard work, dedication, tenacity and excellence in whatever I am doing have yielded the best results, and invariably when I thought that I’d found a legitimate shortcut it proved not to be. Life simply doesn’t offer many shortcuts worth taking.
So today, after I got young Henry to school on time, I turned to him and said with a smile, “There are no shortcuts, Henry.”
Maybe tonight I’ll read the boys a Dr. Seuss book before they go to bed.
And guess what my favorite graduation gift is? The book may not be what is expected, but I hope that my inscriptions will make a lasting difference.