About me

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Last year was a transformative year for me. Amidst all the tumult happening around me, I got clarity and my life got better. I feel fortunate and grateful.

We’ll call it the year of simplification.

Frankly, it wasn’t part of a grand plan. I got laid off from a startup at which my boss said I had been doing an outstanding job. The layoff came as a surprise to me but I should have known. At the time, I was a chief of staff to the CEO of a tech unicorn, and he had me leading 3 of his key initiatives: vision alignment, employee engagement and more. But like so many other venture-backed startups, it was facing a tough economy and tighter capital. I was a relatively new, highly-compensated individual contributor: chalk it up to “right place, wrong time”.

Probably shouldn’t have taken vacation at such a volatile time, but my wife and I were excited to visit our daughter who was studying semester abroad in Paris and finding herself post-pandemic. We had a memorable time but I remember that I wasn’t my peppy self and everything felt tighter. I found myself going to bed early in the City of Lights even with my two favorite people.

I found out about my job shortly after getting back, but not before my wife dragged me to an annual physical (Note: I hate doctors and have always thought I was bulletproof like superman.) While I didn’t take it seriously at the office at first, my doctor hit me with some cold hard facts: I was no longer a spring chicken, I was over-weight by alot, and my blood pressure was alarmingly high. What?!

Why do I share this with you? I think it’s because I got lucky and there were some important lessons that might be useful to you or someone you know. I lost my job. At my age in this environment, I found it wasn’t that easy to get either an equivalent position or even something that required less experience. I was a little stressed and didn’t have obvious answers; I was however fortunate that my wife had developed a successful practice so I had a cushion but that was putting even more pressure on her.

Here are five things I learned about me. If any of this resonates with you. we should connect!

+ things are often not as bad as they seem. psychologists call this cognitive distortion

+ change is a lot easier than you think. take a step. (e.g. intermittent fasting)

+ start with building a vision, then a plan. a personal v2mom is a good framework to use

+ consider non-traditional paths. i left a career I'd been in for over 20 years

+ practice kaizen - get better everyday. be reflective but celebrate the little wins