Alastair Hall stood six-foot four. Everyone called him Shorty.

He was only the fourth partner in the history of Sutro & Company, a San Francisco brokerage firm founded in the 1870s and my first employer out of grad school.

There are two things you need to know about Shorty. He was the epitome of integrity. And, in many ways, he was the father of my business career. He taught me the importance of being consistent, forming opinions that are rooted in an abiding philosophy of life. We had very different personalities – he reserved, methodical, and wise, and I hard-charging, unpredictable, and passionate. We had a close friendship.

Shorty showed empathy for the problems of others yet never expressed any self-pity. He was imprisoned for most of World War II by the Japanese in the Philippines. Most of the four thousand prisoners in that camp were American or British. On average they lost a third of their body weight. Enough to kill many. Shortly before Americans liberated the camp in 1945, Japanese soldiers rounded up many Western women living near the prison to hold as hostages. Tragically, many were executed before the Americans arrived. Shorty’s wife was one of the victims.

Years later, Shorty moved to San Francisco from Manila with his four children and a new wife. One of his sons caught meningitis only a few weeks after graduating from Stanford University and died. I couldn’t imagine his grief. That memory still calls to mind often something Shorty once told me: “When you walk down the street and look into people’s faces, you never know what kind of sadness they may be enduring.”

I can get distracted by virtually anything, a trait that often drives my colleagues a little crazy. But having an insatiable curiosity helps set you apart from the crowd, just as surely as having empathy and compassion for people. Curiosity inevitably feeds your appetite for risk. When I would tell Shorty about some deal I was excited about and who was backing it, he would turn, look me in the eye, and say with a slight hint of impatience: “By their deeds, laddie. By their deeds.” His message? If you go ahead, be sure to watch what these guys do, not what they say.

Risk is a great teacher. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. You have to do the analysis, assess trends, and develop insights before taking action. But the more frequently you take risks, step back and learn from those experiences, the better you become at calculating potential dangers and rewards when new opportunities appear. You need to be willing to take risks early in your career. Measured risks. The stakes likely will be low, and you will have time to change course if necessary and recover.