The best thing about being a journalist

When it's all said and done and I look back on my career, they'll be a few big stories I remember and lots of people. It's the associations that will stand out most, and particularly the successes of people I've worked with.

One of those people is a  young man who landed a job this week at USA Today. He wrote me a note a few weeks ago saying he was applying for a post and wanted to talk with me about it. I immediately called a top editor at the paper and told him this guy is the real deal.

Well, he go the job--a terrific one. I told him that I will use him as an example of what can happen to  a skilled, smart, ambitious young person. I will also use him as an antidote with my editor friends who sometimes forget how much good they're doing. Most of them have similar stories about helping people find new job and climb the ladder, many times over.