“Do the Next Right Thing”

Recently, The Boston Globe (my hometown newspaper for two decades) devoted a front-page story to philanthropy.

Reporter Rob Weisman spoke with several boomers like me who are on the cusp of the largest transfer of generational wealth the world has ever seen. He wanted to know how I view my legacy, and how I’m imparting my values to my family.

As I told the Globe, I brought up my three children to be their own people. And they, so fiercely, are. In a world of constant upheaval, my overall advice to them and their generation is: “Just do the next right thing.”

What I love about the Globe spread is a photograph in which I’m sitting beside a courageous Afghan women’s rights activist, Palwasha Hassan. I’ve known her forever; she’s a hero. Palwasha was evacuated from Kabul in the September chaos. The morning the photo below was taken, I listened for two hours as she relived her past, described her present, and pondered her future.

As we’ve entered a new year, I’m determined to bring with me the lessons of that morning. As scores of Afghan colleagues have told me, “Nothing about us without us.”