I was talking with a friend the other day. (It was after a late-night ice hockey game against a team that included a columnist for this magazine, but those are other stories).

We were discussing career alternatives. As I have noted in this space before, keeping inside counsel engaged and motivated can be a challenge, but it is one of the most important deliverables that any manager has.

My friend (a recovering attorney who has worked for exchange-listed companies as well as founded start-ups), passed on a bit of wisdom he'd picked up along the way. “Don't focus so much on what your next job is going to be,” he said. “What do you want your last job to be?”