to another day, when she drove home

to another day, when she drove home with greaterself-esteem -feeling that she had learned a lot, beenrecognized for achieving valuable things, and playeda significant role in the success of some importantinitiatives. I then imagined how positively that affected her as a spouse and a parent. My conclusion:Management is the most noble of professions if it'spracticed well. No other occupation offers as manyways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team. More and moreMBA students come to school thinking that a careerin business means buying, selling, and investing incompanies. That's unfortunate. Doing deals doesn'tyield the deep rewards that come from building uppeople.I want students to leave my classroom knowing that.Create a Strategy for Your Lifetheory that is helpful in answering thesecond question-How can I ensure thatmy relationship with my family provesto be an enduring source ofhappiness?-concerns how strategy is defined and implemented.Its primary insight is that a company's strategy isdetermined by the types of initiatives that management invests in. If a company's resource allocationprocess is not managed masterfully, what emergesfrom it can be very different from what managementintended. Because companies' decision-making systems are designed to steer investments to initiativesthat offer the most tangible and immediate returns,companies shortchange investments in initiativesthat are crucial to their long-term strategies.Over the years I've watched the fates of my HBSclassmates from 1979 unfold; I've seen more andmore of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced,and alienated from their children. I can guaranteeyou that not a single one of them graduated with thedeliberate strategy of getting divorced and raisingchildren who would become estranged from them.And yet a shocking number of them implementedthat strategy. The reason? They didn't keep the purpose of their lives front and center as they decidedhow to spend their time, talents, and energy.It's quite startling that a significant fraction ofthe 900 students that HBS draws each year from theworld's best have given little thought to the purposeof their lives. I tell the students that HBS might beone of their last chances to reflect deeply on that