What will your Tombstone say when you die?

Alfred Nobel is perhaps best known for the Nobel Peace prize; however, his work in this area is only the second chapter of his story.

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, and businessman. He made his fortune by inventing dynamite and other powerful explosives which later became weapons. When his brother died in 1888, a French newspaper mistakenly printed Alfred’s obituary instead.

Even though Nobel held 355 different patents, the newspaper described the dead man as the one who became rich by enabling people to kill each other in unprecedented numbers. Shaken by this assessment, Nobel resolved to use his fortune from then on to award accomplishments that benefited humanity.

Nobel had the rare opportunity to read the evaluation of his life at its end, and yet live long enough to change that assessment.

This story reminded me of a training workshop I attended in my late teens.  At that workshop, we were given a sheet of paper with a blank tombstone and tasked to write what we would like people to say about us following our demise.  At the end of the exercise, the question was posed: How will you need to live your life from this day forward to enable someone to truthfully say those things about you when you die?

It may seem morbid, but I found the exercise quite profound, and a stirring catalyst for change.

Not all change is an improvement; but without change, there can be no improvement. We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. Without constant, and honest self-evaluation, we can easily become victims of the drift, until one day, we wake up in a place we never would have chosen, drifting in a direction we never intended to go.

Live your life with purpose and resolve. Begin with the end in mind; it helps, and it is true in business, and in our personal lives. #leadership #management #inspiration #businessadvice