I was updating my resume recently and was reminded of my first corporate manager PM. He was an amazing professional mentor, and an even more amazing man. I’ll never forget his gentle yet commanding presence. In a room full of shouting people he could offer a whisper and everyone would immediately quiet down and strain to hear him. I think it was because he didn’t waste his words idly, and so when he did speak he had something important to say.

At the time when we met I was young, inexperienced and just out of the safe confines of the ivory tower. But I admit I did have an enthusiasm and eagerness that must have been attractive to him. He let me test my wings and stretch myself in ways that I have never since experienced in a professional environment. Unfortunately the world lost him to leukemia. I still miss him dearly and I’ve always been very grateful to him for the gifts and skills he helped me to develop.

Anyway, one of the most important things he ever told me still rings in my head from time to time. I was “blocked” on my creative path as I was trying to get a project started. He stopped at my desk, asked me how it was going and then just as he turned to leave he looked at me and said, “Some things in life are important enough to do wrong.”

It floored me. At first I thought I misunderstood him, but then it finally sank in. With one blow he had removed years of the “perfectionist dust” that had been layered upon me, weighing me down.

Some things in life are important enough to do wrong.