Ten Minutes That Mattered

As I sit in BMI's Edinburgh Airport lounge, waiting for my flight to Brussels, I came across a great snippet in Forbes under the heading 'Ten Minutes That Mattered'. Often in business and life, an important conversation, a made or missed connection, or even an intrusion of pure fate redirects our thinking and actions for years afterward. I have a few of those in my life, like the time my brother called me in Brussels to say 'Go see my friend the recruiter, she can get you to the US'...and she did, but with a detour that took me to FreeMarkets, the company that changed the world of doing business with invention of the online reverse auction for purchasing and strategic sourcing. Or the time my 8th Grade Football Coach, Greg Shields, marched on to the Volleyball court and yanked me out of practice to say 'what the hell are you doing messing about with a volleyball when you should be out on the football field hitting somebody?'. That started a 12-year football career that has taught me so many things about life and business that I can't imagine what would have happened if Coach Shields didn't care enough to barge in and break-up Volleyball practice. 

No, we all have Ten Minutes That Matter...tell me about yours?