Above all else

One of my favourite books (well, maybe short story is a better description) is "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Dr Spencer Johnson. It's an allegory about two mice and two little people, who are happily enjoying cheese in one corner of a maze, when the cheese disappears. Do they head off into the unknown to find new cheese? Or stay put and hope the cheese gets replenished? I first discovered this book more than ten years ago. I was reasonably comfortable where I was in my career, I knew what I was doing, and I was being recognised for being good at it. It was getting even more comfortable because after a couple of years of exploring new areas and steep learning curves, my role was slowly evolving back towards an area that I was particularly familiar with. Reading "Who Moved My Cheese?" prompted me to find a new adventure, and so I did, promptly moving to try out a different industry and a different role. After a couple of years, I did actually end up going back to my o...

Venture capitalist, businessman and Shark Tank judge Kevin O'Leary was asked by a guy - my fiancee has delivered me an ultimatum - choose me or your crazy hours in your startup business. What do I do? O'Leary first observed that the guy had built a very promising company, with millions in revenue. He then noted that major sacrifices are needed to build a successful business - family dinners, weekend soccer games, time, energy and attention. And O'Leary ended up asking the guy to consider - which is harder to replace - the business or your fiancee? Indra Nooyi, former Pepsico CEO and Chairperson, observed a similar thing, famously observing "I don't think you can have it all. We pretend we have it all. We pretend we can have it all.". Oprah Winfrey put it even more elegantly. "You can have it all. Just not all at once."  I'm not sure that the right question is "Which is harder to replace?" My instinct is that the better question is ...