Judging by this example of navel-gazing journalism, yes, maybe it's good the author quit his job and started a charity. The fact that he feels it's ok to publicly question his daughters ambitions to prove a dubious point further illustrates that he's not in a spot to contribute to the discussion about the value of people's career choices.
The whole idea of a limited time in your life where you can make a difference is ridiculous and choosing other journalists and managers as examples of people who have seen the light and quit their jobs just reaffirms my choice of an engineering career. Maybe I'm not finding the cure for cancer but at least I'm not sitting around dispensing bad advice.