One Cup at a Time.

If there’s one thing that people know about me it’s that I love coffee. I am not ashamed to admit that I have a borderline coffee problem. It’s rare that I’m not walking around with a cup in my hand. The thing is, I really don’t need it. Caffeine has little effect for me, and while I love the taste of a good bold dark roast, it is the actual comfort of a cup in my hand that is the hard habit to break.

The only thing that makes coffee better is when it is shared with others. My calendar is constantly filled with coffee meetings. There were two meetings in particular yesterday, one with an old friend and one with a new, that I will remember for a very long time. 

Some of us get so busy in this life trying to make this grandiose impact, while others get caught up in trying to make a name for themselves. Both are endless pursuits that never slow down, and can only truly be measured when we stop to take a sip from the cup of life, and taste what we have been brewing. 

My first meeting yesterday was with a former colleague who has been asking me to get coffee for months. I remember the first time I met him almost 10 years ago when I was appointed as his new district manager, and he, 30 years my senior, mumbled the words “What does this kid think he is going to teach us” under his breath. For years we worked together, I respected his years of experience and knowledge, while he tolerated my persistent feedback to try and make him a better “leader.” We weren’t kidding ourselves, we both knew that the only thing he really wanted was for me to not visit him and to leave him alone to run his business. Each visit was the same, the two of us with a cup of coffee in our hands, reviewing his business, and going back and forth in what seemed to always be a circular conversation. 

Years have passed since I left that retail world and he retired. Our lives have gone in significantly different directions, mine becoming much busier, while his has become much less. As I focus on the future, it has been increasingly harder to keep in touch with the past, but yesterday I stopped to take a sip. As we came together to share stories of the old, laughing in affirmation of the thoughts that were going on in our minds back in those days, he shared something I did not see coming. Bringing the coffee cup up to his grey mustache, and then setting it back down, he looked at me and said “I can think of three leaders in my career that I learned something from, the first two taught me a lot about business, but you thought me a lot about people. You helped me become a better person.”

That was a good cup of coffee. One that I will forever be grateful for, and humbled by. 

An hour later I found myself sitting in another coffee shop, in another meeting, with a new friend. A few months earlier we had met at an HR conference that PurposePoint had sponsored. Her company’s table was just a few short steps from ours and I could not help but notice that both of our organizations played in the same sandbox. Inquisitively I introduced myself and listened as she shared her passion for coaching and consulting which had now spanned for more than two decades. Interestingly, we both had a keynote talk with similar titles on “Winning the War for Talent” taking place in the same week in the same community. Now I try to see everything through the lens of collaboration and not competition, but in full transparency, this was a challenge for me. I thought long and hard about this, and out of respect for her tenure experience, decided to change my title, and even attended her talk. For the next hour I sat and listened as she shared stories of those in her past who had helped her become who she was today, and how she used their stories to transform the lives of others. She was real. She was authentic. She was refreshing. After her talk, I shared my commentary during the post video session in appreciation for her presentation.

One month later I received a request from her to have lunch, not knowing what to expect, I agreed and listened intently as she shared her stories of triumphs, failures, and her current struggles. There was no agenda, just a genuine introduction of two like-minded professionals in the same field. After two hours of conversation our meal ended, and we went our separate ways. Two weeks later I received an email from her that I will never forget. For me that lunch seemed to be just another introductory lunch, but for her it was a transformational experience. Here she was on a mission to discover her purpose, even though she had been changing the lives of others for decades. So there we sat yesterday, a cup of coffee in each hand, a pen, a page, and a conversation on purpose. 

Both of these individuals taught me something. 

~You never know who might be learning from you and how you might be impacting their life, no matter how old you or they may be. 

~It is never too late to discover your purpose, regardless of what you have or have not accomplished in your life. 

Maybe there is such a thing as too much coffee, maybe there isn’t. What is important is not how much you have, but that you stop to taste each sip. In every moment of life there is an opportunity for you to impact the lives of those around you, even if you are not looking for it. And so, in this ever-increasing fast paced world, I intrigue you to stop and take a sip, to experience the fullness of living a life of purpose, and to taste each moment ... one cup at a time. 

Live Purposefully.

Davin Salvagno is a passionate motivational speaker, dynamic leadership coach, and the Founder of PurposePoint. Having spent two decades serving in various senior leadership roles in HR, finance, operations, and marketing for Fortune 100 companies, he draws from his expertise and insights in these areas to be a catalyst for organizations who are passionate about investing in their purpose and in the development of their people. 

Read more at www.DavinSalvagno.com or book Davin to speak at www.PurposePoint.com