page 63: I want to chime in with a networking secret that has worked for me -- start your own networking group! Inviting speakers to my events has been a great way to meet prominent people in the industry. People are always interested in sharing their knowledge and experience with others. And at the events themselves, attendees always approach me at the end to chat. I rarely find myself standing alone wondering whom to speak to next. But even in those infrequent instances, it's psychologically easier for me as the "host" to wander over to someone and start a conversation, even just to thank them for coming to the event and to ask what they got out of it. If you can't start a networking group, then join a committee of an existing one, particularly a committee in charge of programming.

page 78: Starting an independent consultancy has rewarded me with the ability to integrate work and life -- and to enjoy both in the here and now rather than sacrifice one for the other. But I've had a continuing debate with a friend over how to grow my business. "Stop being a consultant," he says, "and start managing consultants. Grow into a big firm. That's the only chance for a big payout that will give you the flexibility to do what you really want to do."

"But I'm already doing what I really want to do," I counter. As well-intentioned as my friend is, I know very well the value of having work balance and enjoying life today. That was made very clear to me on the morning of September 11, 2001.

I was walking into One World Trade Center when terrorist hijackers slammed a passenger jet into its upper floors. Although I made it to safety from that point, I was only two blocks away when another plane hit the second tower fifteen minutes later. As I made it back to my apartment in Greenwich Village in a swirl of confusion over what had happened and what might happen next, I couldn't help but feel enormously lucky. Lucky to be alive, yes, but even more lucky to know that if I had perished that day, it would have happened while I was following my dream, not someone else's. That single thought from that horrible day will always keep me pointed in the right direction.