On this episode of Our American Stories, Mike Leven was studying law at the University of Chicago when a bad grade sent him to his professor's office looking for help. Instead, the professor gave him a verdict: “You don't understand contracts, and I don't think you ever will.” Mike walked out, sold his law books, and went home. His legal career was over almost as soon as it had begun.

Leven would go on to become one of America's most successful hoteliers, but he never forgot how it felt to have someone in authority dismiss him so completely. Mike shares how that painful encounter shaped the way he approached leadership, parenting, and some of the hardest conversations of his career, especially when he was the person with the power to change someone else's life.

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