| The problem with the world today is that there is | | | | who could be trusted by employees and clients |
| too much noise. Life is busy and the noise | | | | alike. They saw that I had the interests of the |
| surrounds us from the time we awaken to the | | | | people and the company at heart. |
| time our head hits the pillow at night. The noise | | | | With the rapid growth of the company, my role |
| isn't confined to the outer world; it invades the | | | | within in it had become very dynamic. I was |
| mind as well. This is the noise that needs to be | | | | constantly working out issues in my head, with |
| silenced. Underneath the roaring waves of the | | | | colleagues, on the phone or on my computer. The |
| mind are the gentle whisperings of the soul. When | | | | job's demands kept me very busy every day, |
| we can finally listen to the wisdom of the soul, we | | | | and I was rewarded for my accomplishments. |
| begin to live life with integrity and peace. | | | | Finances were great, my family was healthy and |
| My story is a real-life example of taking big risks | | | | well taken care of and I was an executive for an |
| for the sake of quietingthe mind and listening to | | | | international company before the age of |
| the soul in the midst of a very busy life. | | | | thirty-five. My life was a success, or at least |
| It was the fall of 2007. The company that I | | | | that's what I told myself over and over again. |
| helped grow from a local three-person operation | | | | But something was stirring within me. It began as |
| to a multinational corporation, operating with over | | | | a subtle feeling of discontent, a faint questioning |
| two hundred employees and nine years of | | | | of my purpose. Over time, the feeling grew and I |
| quarter-after-quarter growth, was headed for | | | | became aware that I needed to make a drastic |
| another big expansion. At that time, my wife and | | | | change. In other words, the inner voice of my |
| I were settling into our brand new house with our | | | | soul was saying "Get out." My inner voice does |
| two young children who were two and three | | | | not, and did not, come to me as an actual voice |
| years old. | | | | inside my head. It feels almost like an inner |
| Up to this point in my life I had chased after | | | | knowing of right and wrong. All through life I have |
| success the best way I knew how. I had created | | | | carried a moral compass of some sort. |
| opportunities for myself to grow in the workplace; | | | | I think all of us have that inner compass. It's a |
| I had quality relationships with friends and even | | | | nagging feelingthat something isn't right, a feeling |
| better relationships with my co-workers. I was | | | | that can even be physical. |
| well respected in the organization as a person | | | | |