The Editor’s View: Easily Distinguished

By Katrice L. Mines, Editor
kmines@atlantatribune.com

Nothing inspires me more than observing an individual who is operating within their “calling.” I have considered many — that I don’t know personally —mentors in my head simply from what I’ve been able to glean from their focus, work ethic and commitment to their life passions — in passing. Exceptional people have a way. I often tell our interns, “You don’t always have to meet a person or even have a conversation with them to learn from them.” Blueprints to success are everywhere you look.

Enter: Our Men of the Year — Egbert Perry, Eddie Bridgeman and Ernest Greer, and all of the distinguished men being recognized in this issue. Attorneys, entrepreneurs, finance and non-profit experts, athletes, marketing gurus and restaurateurs … Different paths, but similar destinations — where they aimed and beyond. From their stories, we learn that what you put in is what you get out. And what they put in, many times, is more for others than themselves.

It was as if Judge Willie J. Lovett Jr. was speaking for each of the men featured when I spoke with him for “The Leader Chat” (p. 45) and he shared his favorite quote by Mark Twain, “Great people are those who make others feel that they, too, can become great.”

It is part of what inspired our annual MOY coverage; not just recognition of the stellar accomplishments of each year’s honorees, but also a map for those who follow.