by Nancy Linenkugel
Contributor
Are you a Jack Lemmon fan? Wasn’t he hilarious in “Some Like It Hot?” And what about his unforgettable role in “Grumpy Old Men?”
Besides being an iconic actor, he’s also a philosopher of sorts. Although others sometimes get the credit, it was Jack Lemmon who said, “If you’ve been successful in your chosen path, then sending the elevator back down is your obligation.”
Kevin Spacey has this adaptation: “If you have done well, it is your duty to send the elevator back down and try to help bring up the next generation of undiscovered talent.”
The elevator metaphor is powerful. If the floors in a building represent an advancing career, we don’t advance floor by floor by ourselves. Just as the elevator cab depends on working systems to move it up and down, so do we depend on and are helped by others to help move us up to reach our desired floor.
Once we do reach a higher floor of success, we can’t forget that there are folks in the place down below where we once were. There’s plenty of room for everyone to be successful. Let’s keep sending the elevator back down.
[Sr. Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.]