I love the stories we tell about my parents. The stories about my father are usually about creative ways to get something done. For my mother they often deal with how she dealt with her cancer. Laughter plays a big part in the stories about both of them.

They’re still here with us when we tell those stories, even though both have been physically dead for years. We tell stories about other people, too. I tell stories about my mentor, Leonard Tompkins, about Art Jones, the best boss I ever saw up close, and countless others.

Not all the stories are good ones. I tell stories about my worst boss ever. After family dinners there are stories, good and bad, about all sorts of people. They live in our stories. We draw lessons from those stories and express our opinions.

Others tell stories about us, about our finest and worst moments. What stories do people tell about you? How will you live in their stories when you’re gone from them and this life?

Boss’s Bottom Line

Live every day so that the stories they tell about you will be good ones.