This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the retirement celebration of Tom Kenyon, someone I connected with not long after joining Gates.
Tom and I weren’t people who talked every week or constantly stayed in touch.
But I’ve learned that frequency isn’t always what determines the impact someone has on your life.
There were points along the way when our conversations mattered.
Sometimes they were about Gates, customers, careers or leadership.
And during one particularly difficult season, they became much more personal.
My wife and I had filed for divorce and were in the middle of that process. Tom was one of the people who offered perspective during a time when I needed it.
He listened. He shared wisdom from his own experiences. And some of those conversations stuck with me.
Thankfully, my wife and I eventually found our way back to each other, and the divorce was never finalized.
Standing at Tom’s retirement celebration this weekend brought some of those conversations back to mind.
But what struck me most was looking around the room.
Family.
Friends.
Coworkers.
People from different chapters of his life.
Six of us from Gates were able to attend, with several traveling hours to be there.
That said something to me.
Not because attendance at a retirement party is the measure of someone’s career. There are countless people Tom worked with and impacted who couldn’t be in that room.
But seeing people make the trip was one more reminder that relationships built over decades have a way of showing up when you reach important milestones.
I also had the opportunity to talk with one of Tom’s great friends, Mark Smith.
Mark has run more than 50 marathons.
Naturally, we talked running.
We talked about races, training and the Detroit Free Press Marathon — a race Mark has completed and the marathon I’ll be running this October.
Somewhere between talking about actual marathons and celebrating the end of Tom’s career, the parallel became hard to miss.
Nobody runs the entire race alone.
Some people are beside us for years.
Others join us for only a few miles.
Some push our pace.
Some teach us.
Some encourage us.
Some offer perspective during the miles when we’re struggling.
And sometimes we don’t fully appreciate their impact until we look back at the course we’ve traveled.
We spend so much of life focused on finish lines.
The next race.
The next sales goal.
The next promotion.
The next position.
Eventually, retirement.
But watching Tom surrounded by family, friends and colleagues reminded me that maybe a career isn’t ultimately measured only by how far you went.
It’s also reflected in the relationships you built along the way.
There’s another part of this story that makes this particular retirement especially meaningful to me.
The new role I recently stepped into at Gates — Key Account Sales Manager – Heavy-Duty & Hydraulics — is the position Tom retired from.
One person finishes his leg of the race.
Another takes the baton.
There’s something humbling about that.
A title can transfer.
A position can be filled.
Responsibilities can be handed over.
But the impact someone leaves behind can’t simply be inherited.
That has to be earned.
And I have a lot of miles ahead of me to do that.
Someday, I’ll reach the end of my career too.
When that happens, I hope the questions that matter aren’t only:
What did I accomplish?
What title did I hold?
What numbers did I produce?
I hope they’re also:
Who did I help?
Who did I encourage?
Who did I make time for?
Who is better because our paths crossed?
And perhaps most importantly…
Who ran beside me along the way?
Tom, congratulations on a well-earned retirement.
Thank you for the conversations, the perspective and the impact you’ve had on my race.
I’m honored to take the baton and begin this next leg of mine.
Careers have finish lines. Impact doesn’t.
#MondayMilesAndLeadership
#BuiltForTheLongRun
#Leadership #Mentorship #Relationships