The map I didn't have

Nobody in my family had walked the road I was trying to take. There was no map, no one to call when a form made no sense or a deadline appeared from nowhere.

What I learned the hard way

Most young people I work with are navigating the same fog. They are not short on talent or drive. They are short on someone who has been down the road before.

Young people aren't a cause. They're the ones doing the leading. I just walk alongside.

That is the whole of it, really. Walk alongside, hand over the map you wish you'd had, and get out of the way.