25 years ago, a Detroit journalist named Mitch Albom was at the height of his sports reporting career. At the time, he was an up-and-coming ESPN reporter, working 100-hour-weeks between television and radio appearances, and his syndicated column. He was at the beginning of a burgeoning career and, in his own words, “quite full of my own ambition.”

And then his trajectory changed.

Albom just happened to be flipping through the channels on his TV one night and caught his old college professor talking with Ted Koppel on the evening news. Morrie Schwartz, a beloved professor from Boston was reflecting on the end of life and sharing lessons on living. In that instant, Albom regretted having lost touch with his professor, so he called him. And then he visited. And he kept visiting, every Tuesday, for the rest of Morrie’s life.

Since Tuesdays with Morrie was published, it has sold nearly 18 million copies in 48 languages. It remains one of the best-selling memoirs in the history of publishing, despite many publishers saying the book would never amount to much.

So, no small thing that this November 12, I will sit down with Mitch Albom for a live interview at Grace United Methodist Church, where we’ll talk about his purposeful career, the power of relationship, and how he puts his faith into action.

Join me for an Afternoon with Mitch Albom

Over these past few months, I’ve been stewing on what I’ll ask him, and how I’ll find the words to lead a conversation with one of the most iconic conversationalists of our time.

The more I learn about him, the more intrigued I become. Albom took an initial leap of faith by shifting his focus at the height of his career. He stepped away from the guaranteed to the uncertain; and he’s taken every opportunity since to explore “what if” he lived fully into the lessons that his college professor had taught him while on the edge of death. Since that first book, Albom has written several more equally inspired and heart-tugging books about love, life, and humanity including Have a Little Faith, Stranger in the Lifeboat, and Chika. He has launched nine charities in the Detroit area, and he’s in a band with fellow literary greats. All while still regularly filing sports columns right where he started: in the Detroit Free Press.

Seems a leap of faith doesn’t need to mean leaving your beginnings behind. But it’s how we carry those beginnings through with us to the end that set the foundation for a great life story.

This is week 41 of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights direct to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.