Friday, January 31, 2014

The Tommy Gun and your career

Daniel Pink wrote a wonderful book called

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need

It has six insightful and empowering lessons. The last one is entitled

Leave an imprint
“Recognize that your life isn’t infinite and that you should use your limited time here to do something that matters.”

In a different book, I read about  John T. Thompson and his invention, the Thompson submachine gun (or the Tommy Gun). He has an interesting story because his invention was used in several capacities.  When the gun came to market there weren’t any major wars to use it in. WWI had just ended and John Thompson died before the gun was used to “clear trenches” in WWII. Law enforcement agencies and gangsters used the gun. The infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre utilized Tommy guns.

Did John Thompson feel like he made a positive imprint? Was he disappointed knowing that gangsters like Al Capone used his invention for crime? Thompson never truly got to see the good his gun did in WWII as a “trench sweeper” that helped defeat the Axis. Would that have made a difference?

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