I drove straight to the office, hoping I could explain what had happened. Instead, my boss, Nick Calloway, greeted me with an expression I would never forget. The conference room was empty, the presentation deck still glowing on the wall monitor. Nick told me the client had left and the opportunity was gone. When I explained that I had stopped to help a woman suffering from a possible cardiac emergency, he showed no sympathy.

“You were supposed to keep driving,” he said. I stared at him, unable to believe those words had come from someone who expected his employees to care about people and their work. Then he told me I was fired. My colleague Greg, a longtime employee who had once mentored me, stood in the back of the room but said nothing. That silence hurt almost as much as Nick’s decision. I collected my belongings and left, feeling as though three years of loyalty had been erased in a few minutes. Sitting in my car, I gripped the steering wheel and screamed until I had nothing left.