Good morning and Merry Christmas.
We at CEO Daily would never want to be the lump of coal in your stocking, so it set me to thinking what might be the right story for the season. Many of the best business stories tend to uncover wrongdoing or reveal injustice and it felt wrong to foist that on readers on this particular morning. I decided to go in search of heartwarming business tales this week. Frankly, the pickings were a bit slim. So I’ve decided to venture into the archives and dusted off my favorite spirit-of-giving article, one that is just over a decade old at this point. It’s called “The Game of a Lifetime” and was published in the Wall Street Journal (I will acknowledge that I am good friends with the author, Katherine Rosman). It’s a first-person account of her attempts to thank her stepfather for helping to raise her and for taking care of her then-ailing mother. I’m loath to give away more details—I really encourage you to read this—but I will say that, even as a person who has never picked up a golf club (unless a mini-golf putter counts), I was profoundly moved by a story that revolves around finding a way to play a single round at Augusta National Gulf Club. It’s a deeply human story and, as a relatively minor bonus, it provides insights into how good reporters work. Read it and be reminded, in a difficult time, how kind people can sometimes be.