I Always Want the Best for You

I always want the best for you, even if what you want for yourself may not ultimately be the best for me.

Ellie was one of the best secretaries I ever had. She was the only one who knew how to use our IBM MT/ST (Magnetic Tape/Selectric Typewriter) which was a very early version of an electronic word processor. Her successors never got the hang of it.  And neither did I. One Saturday morning I tried it out.  My project was to “self-address” twelve envelopes for the U.S. Post Office so they would return to me twelve stamped “first day covers” for the first moon landing on July 20, 1969.  I spent three hours addressing those twelve envelopes.  Many more than twelve envelopes ended up in the wastebasket.

Ellie told me that she wanted to be an attorney.  I encouraged her to go to law school, which she did. After becoming an attorney she worked in the office of my former law partner. Several years later she returned to my company as our general counsel.  Ellie is still an investor (she might very well be reading this blog at the same time that you are).

Another long-term employee, Jeanne, began working with me in 1969.  She was actually my second choice.  Thank goodness she was still available after I fired my first choice less than two weeks into the job (My record in hiring has since improved, but it will never be perfect).

Jeanne expressed interest in becoming an interior designer and I encouraged her to go into that field.  After several years of study she obtained the appropriate credential, and eventually opened her own successful practice.  After fifteen years in business for herself, possibly tired of swimming upstream as an entrepreneur must, she returned to work with me

I could share many other examples, but my point is this:  I always want the best for you, even if what you want for yourself may not ultimately be the best for me.

I encouraged my six children, when they were young teenagers, to gain business experience by working in my office.  Imagine the shock of a caller who heard an adolescent male voice answering, “Good morning.  ACF Property Management.  To whom may I address your call?” That was my son Steven, who today is a professor at the U.S.C. School of Medicine.  My other children are a tenured professor at U.C.L.A., a trial attorney in Palo Alto, a yoga teacher (with an MBA) in Boulder, Colorado, the assistant executive director of a mindfulness center, and a linguist, soon to enroll in a San Diego acupuncture school.  I have encouraged each of them to find their own niche in life, and I believe they have.

I also want to help you attain the best life for yourself – and here are several reasons why:

1. I am thrilled when I believe that I have helped someone I care for discover a better life.
2. When you are happy, I am happy.  Our relationship, for as long as it may last, will be more fulfilling for both of us.
3. It’s the right thing to do.  I refer potential clients to another investment company when I feel that would be a better “fit” for their needs.
4. I like to “pay it forward.”

I am grateful to my parents and to so many teachers, employers, and friends along the way who have encouraged me to find my own niche.  Thankfully, today my niche is writing, a role I thoroughly enjoy.  I truly hope that you have all the encouragement and support you need to pursue whatever it is in life that will leave you as happy as you can possibly be.

Alan