There are moments in life that I believe lead to extraordinary opportunities of growth. It was 2020 when I started my new role. Prior to this I was working in a job repairing medical devices. It was related to my field of study, biomedical engineering but the heavily regulated but refined processes meant that the days working there had little wiggle room for creativity. Soon enough I realised the job was very much a physical labor job and I needed to change.

I decided to pursue a career in data to leverage my programming skills. At the time though I felt like my job title made it difficult. After about 50 job applications I finally received my first reply and soon after an interview.

That's where I met Wesley for the first time. Extremely well dressed, all business. The interview felt like a very comfortable conversation, I remember the last question being;

If you were an animal, which animal would you be?

My answer, a cockatoo.

From there I went under his wing. I was given a space that allowed me to experiment and push my abilities all the while learning so much business knowledge and soft skills that I just didn't have the opportunity nor the immediate need to improve. Honestly, it was these skills that have accelerated my career. Till this day, when my coworkers talk about my work, I will always say "I learnt this from an old boss of mine".

Before I knew it, Wes had become such an incredible role model, being a fellow Asian Australian. Seeing that he had made himself a successful career was incredibly inspiring. He was like a work dad, I just felt like I could ask him for advice on just about anything outside of work. Even during difficult times in my life, his support and leadership really made a tangible difference in my wellbeing and I now strive to be someone like him.

But in particular, I will always remember two things he always loved to rant and rave about.

1. The art of story telling - how this skill is the most powerful and transformative ability you could acquire in life.
2. Beginning with the end in mind - A framework to better allow us to make better decisions in every situation.

At the time, I superficially understood these two concepts with relation to my work. Yes, I had to craft my dashboards in such a way that would lead users to better understand the data they saw. Yes I need to remember what the purpose or the end state of a report or what I want a user to get out of the information we'd give them.

Perhaps it was just the time immersing in this environment, or it was Wes' constant reminders, but this eventually bled into all facets of my life. Honestly, I see these two abstract concepts everywhere now.

Wes I will forever be in debted to you. You've made an incredible impact on the trajectory of my life. Till this day, from the bottom of my heart, I feel grateful that you gave me that opportunity to just have that interview. I didn't know where it would have lead me, but it was more than I could have ever asked for.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."