This episode is brought to you by Slack. With Slack, you can bring all your people and

tools together in one place. It's your digital HQ where you can increase productivity,

enable flexibility and automate workflows. Plus, Slack is full of game-changing features,

like huddles for quick check-ins, or Slack Connect, which helps you connect with partners

inside and outside of your company. Slack. Where the future works, get started at

Slack.com slash DHQ. Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of the stories from this episode was retroactively

removed, resulting in a shorter than usual episode. The remaining stories have been

untouched. Enjoy the show.

I'm now 50 years old, but when I was in my mid-twenties, only two years out of college,

I was teaching high school theater and directing after-school productions. One of the students

in the drama club, who had taken classes with me, caused a commotion one evening after a

play. He had been serving as an usher that night. I was in my office when two students ran

in from the parking lot to tell me that Jim had frightened them by saying he was considering

suicide. They had a piece of crumbled notebook paper, on which he had written this threat.

I asked if he was still outside, but they said he had driven away, so I immediately grabbed

my contact list and phoned his home to alert his parents. His mother answered, and I told

her what had happened. While we were speaking, Jim actually came home and went straight into

his bedroom. His mother thanked me for the call and said that she would speak to him.

The next morning, Jim showed up at my large double classroom space, which, by the way,

was by itself in the basement of the school, with only the football team's locker room across

the hall and a seldom used weight room nearby. In between, before and after classes,

I was often alone with no other staff or students in the area. Jim came in to thank me

...