A man in a hot air balloon, realizing he was lost, lowered it to shout to a fellow on the ground, “The wind’s blown me off course. Can you tell me where I am?”

The man replied, “Sure. You’re hovering about 60 feet over this wheat field.”

“You must be an engineer,” the balloonist yelled.

“I am. How did you know?” the man replied.

“Well, everything you told me is technically correct but of absolutely no use.”

The engineer retorted, “You’re an executive, right?”

“How did you know?” the balloonist responded.

“Well, you were drifting in no particular direction before you asked my help and you’re still lost, but now it’s my fault.”

The balloon is a good metaphor for our lives. At first, all we want to do is rise as high as we can in terms of money, position and prestige. Yet as we rise wind currents push us sideways. Eventually, many of us discover that we’re on a very different course than we intended, a long way from ...