Raised in Green­wich, CT, Adam Braun began work­ing sum­mers at hedge funds when he was just six­teen years old, sprint­ing down the path to a suc­cess­ful Wall Street career. But while trav­el­ing as a col­lege stu­dent, he met a young boy beg­ging on the streets of India who would change his life. When Braun asked the boy what he want­ed most in the world, he sim­ply answered, ​“A pencil.”

This small request became the inspi­ra­tion for the orga­ni­za­tion the for-pur­pose orga­ni­za­tion Pen­cils of Promise, which has now built over 200 schools in the devel­op­ing world. Guid­ed by his fam­i­ly’s strong Jew­ish iden­ti­ty and inspired by his Hun­gar­i­an-born grand­moth­er’s sac­ri­fices, Braun set off on a jour­ney to find his call­ing through more than fifty coun­tries and into the heart of self-dis­cov­ery. This vivid and inspir­ing book gives read­ers the tools to unlock a sense of pur­pose, pas­sion and mean­ing in their own lives.