Today I went to Metlife to interview one of the assistant VP for my organizational behavior class. His name was Stephen and he was a sweet old man who seemed like he had a lot to share. My general goal was to get a feel of the company culture and his management style. It was an informative talk and he was open to answering a lot of questions. As the interview was coming to an end, I just really really wanted to know one irrelevant thing — “this isn’t part of the interview for the class, but I was just curious..after all your years of experience in life, what words of wisdom would you give to a college student?”
He proceeded to tell me a story about how his brother in law had a daughter who worked for a successful company. But then one day, she just decided to quit and leave with her boss to join a start up company. His brother asked Stephen to talk to his daughter and try to convince her to change her mind. When Stephen asked her why she was doing what she was doing, she merely said…I wake up in the morning, excited, to go to work and do my job.
Then Stephen just told her to go for it. When his brother in law asked Stephen what was he thinking to encourage her, he said..how many people go to bed at night feeling like they actually accomplished something and wasn’t doing something just because it’s their job?
“Whatever you do with your life, you’re going to have to work hard. And if you have to choose between happiness and money, always choose happiness.”
I loved his answer. And so unprofessional of me but I slipped out a Yay before I replied with a thank you so much.
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