Building on Success
|
Building on Success
|
|
|
When you reach for your peak, you may find another mountain. A Successful BoS Client While
anyone can value from exposure to BoS, the process was developed for people who
have reached the "Mastering Stage" of life through experience and
achievement. The following profiles are illustrations of who these people are. Ted, 58, is the CEO of a
fast growing biotechnology company that has recently gone public. The Board is
hinting that they prefer a younger person to keep the ship flying right after
all the hard work that Ted's done to get it off the ground. The value of his
holdings has increased his net worth by a factor of 10, although that fact is
only marginally important to him since this is his third big deal and financial
security was assured some time ago. He's noticed, however, that
the "competitive juices" just don't seem to flow the way they used to
and wonders what else he might want to do in life. This is not a completely
novel thought for Ted - there have been other moments when he realized that he
was foregoing certain things so that he could concentrate on business. He's not
sorry about the choices he's made, but does wonder if maybe this would be a good
time to change direction a bit. Anne, his wife, has become
very active in the new Arts center and is always asking him to come to events.
She's certainly made some sacrifices for him. He, also, wanted to do more with
the Homeless Veterans Shelter ever since he read that article about the Viet Nam
vet who saw heavy action at the same place where he got his Purple Heart. A
little extra golf sounds nice, too. But how does this all fit together? Ted became aware of BoS
through a member of the Board of Directors who had heard about it from his attorney. The thought of taking some
time to focus on himself was not entirely comfortable, but he was a big
proponent of planning in general. Anne was probably the deciding factor. She was
in favor from the start and was eager to participate. Once the decision was
made, Ted threw himself into it in his usual energetic way. The discussions were
always stimulating. He had a chance
to review his life decisions in light of his experience and success, identify
the values, principles, and activities that were most important to him and his
family, and imagine his future in new ways. Several things became clear. He was
emphatically "not ready to retire", he wanted to work at things that
he believed would help other people, and he wanted to spend more time with his
family. Although Ted completed his
BoS course over a year ago, he still requests periodic consultations to review
his progress. During that time, Ted has made a number of significant changes in
his life. Most obvious was his decision to appoint an heir apparent as CEO and
begin to remove himself from day to day operations. Next year, Ted will step
down as CEO, though he will remain on the Board of Directors. He is also
considering accepting an appointment to the Board of Directors of another
company that he had invested in years ago because he really liked the corporate
mission of developing "gadgets" for people with physical disabilities.
Anne worries that he'll get so enthusiastic about the new company that he'll
work even harder than before. Ted, however, has committed to being co-chair of
the Arts Center fund raiser with his wife, and surprised her with a trip to
China for her birthday. Anne reports that he's "mellowed" just a
little bit. They are both very excited about the most recent news - they're
going to be grandparents next summer. |
Send mail to information@buildingonsuccess.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
