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Continue reading →: Never Tell Me the Odds: The Dark Side of the Stress VacuumI am a firm believer that we humans need a little friction in our lives. We need stress. I talked about this a while back ( The Stress Vacuum: Why Retirement Won’t End Anxiety), but a recent conversation with my “guys group” reminded me of just how stupidly we behave when…
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Continue reading →: A Beautifully Weird Path: Stages of Life and Gratitude for Where we areFor the last six or seven years, I have been part of a friend group that I met through our local church. Church has a way of providing a broader perspective on life and community. It gets me out of my own head and forces me to think of others…
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Continue reading →: The Gift of a Blank Canvas: 25 Years Later, I Am at a Familiar CrossroadThere’s an old saying that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Lately, I’ve been feeling the rhythm of a past life. I’m currently staring down a career situation that is almost identical to a crossroads I hit twenty-five years ago when I was running my own consulting firm.…
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Continue reading →: The Greatest Teacher, Failure Is – Part 3: Tact, Truth, and the Empty Parking LotAs I continue my career lesson series, I am wondering what teaches us better lessons: our failures or our successes. For the previous posts – see below Part 1 of the series – The Greatest Teacher, failure is – Planes, Math, and the Red Light District, Part 2 – The Greatest…
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Continue reading →: The Lightsaber Burn: Healing from a Career Layoff After 30 YearsIt stung. Like a Light saber waxing. In my 30-year career, my longest job was my last one; I was there for seven and a half years. I have been gone for a year about a year. So today I wanted to reflect on it. The last Death Star made…
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Continue reading →: The End of an Era: What I Learned at the Last Berkshire Meeting with Warren Buffett and Charlie MungerI finally understand why people make the pilgrimage to Omaha. Here is my deep-dive into the unique investing logic of Berkshire Hathaway and how its “Inner Scorecard” philosophy applies to a successful retirement
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Continue reading →: When the Rolodex Gets EmptyIt is weird to me that I have become the “older guy” in the room in most of my meetings. For most of my career, I have punched above my weight or age and have been promoted into the room with the “white hair” guys. My skill, ownership, and “get…
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Continue reading →: The Emotional Barbell and the Retirement PendulumIt’s just one of those days. One of those mornings where you wake up and, quite frankly, just want to cry. It’s not because something catastrophic happened in this specific moment; it’s just the cumulative weight of a bunch of little things. They all add up, clouding your perspective until…
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Continue reading →: The Performance Review is a Lie: Confessions from the Death StarIt’s that time of year again or for many just past. Performance review time I have a secret to share for anyone still stuck in the grind: Performance reviews don’t matter. Shocking, I know. I looked at performance reviews exactly like the vast majority of managers do. What I’m about…
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Continue reading →: The Couch Strikes Back: Man-Cold ClarityI was sick this week. Fortunately, when I am sick, I can stay home. I have enough Stormtroopers who do the day-to-day work that it doesn’t matter if I take time off. When you’re an important cog in making the machine work, sometimes it can be worse to take time…
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