Days before I was to graduate from college, a journalism professor with great influence over my final grades told me, "Andrea, you will never write," then marched away. After recovering from shock, I vowed, "I'll show him," and I did.

It seems many of you have had similar weighty moments with great consequence to your career.

Marketing expert Shel Horowitz traces his experience back 32 years when a fellow student accused him of being selfish and manipulative.

"It hurt a lot! This was certainly not the way I perceived myself," he says. "But reflecting on his words, I realized he did have a point and I changed my attitude and behavior."

He says he built a successful consulting career that stems "directly from the reputation I have as extremely helpful." At his 25th class reunion, he thanked the student for the "kick in the pants, but he didn't even remember the conver-sation."

Inspiration can come from anywhere — insightful people, overheard conversations, 9-year olds — even "The Ed Sullivan Show."

At 48, Tom Ingrassia chucked his assistant dean job at a business school, inspired by an event from 43 years ago. Watching The Supremes perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show," "I remember vividly turning to my mother and saying, "I'm gonna meet them someday." He eventually worked for Mary Wilson of The Supremes and today runs an artist management agency.

Jim Stroup credits his father's advice for his successful career in the military and as an author. Whenever making a decision, stick with it for two weeks before you reconsider, his father told him.

By doing that, Stroup learned decisions "have repercussions on people's feelings, their relationships with each other and you," and to stop and consider how his decision "might reverberate in my life, in those around me and in the institutions we move in."

Venture capitalist Kim Garretson said, "I thought I was a hotshot intern at Better Homes and Gardens. I was going to have to be brash and ruthless and climb over those above me with my ego shining bright."

Then he overheard editor Jim Autry talking with a visiting group of "small-town guys representing a small-time advertiser. I assumed Jim would give them a cordial brushoff, but he went man to man shaking their hands — and listening. It truly did change me and the way I went about interacting with employers and those we served throughout the rest of my career."

Paul Marciano, founder of Coloring Card Company and ColorMe products, says he owes success to his 9-year-old goddaughter. Visiting one Christmas, the former clinical psychologist asked her if she had received his card. She proudly showed him that she had added her own touch by coloring all over it. "It hit me that greeting cards aren't fun for children," and a business was born.

Bob Danzig, then an advertising salesman at the Albany Times Union, met the paper's publisher, Gene Robb, in an elevator one day. Danzig also attended Siena College at night and Robb, who served on the college's board of trustees, had read Danzig's writing in the college's literary journal and became intrigued.

"Without my knowledge, he had my grades sent to him after every semester," Danzig says. "I learned that he had been keeping an eye on me." Robb offered to put him in a program to learn the various disciplines of the newspaper, but only if Danzig did every assignment well. Why? Robb told Danzig he wanted Danzig to be a candidate to succeed him as publisher. When Robb died suddenly in 1969, Danzig took over the spot. "He taught me the importance of investing in people and not just in work." Danzig is the former CEO of Hearst Newspaper Group.

Successful careers are not just about whom you know, but what you learn from those you encounter along the way.

E-mail Andrea Kay at andrea@andreakay.com.