Six Business Lessons Learned at 45!

Originally published in 5 parts (October 2018). However, I've added a 6th!

It's my birthday. I'm 45. Mid-life. Mid-career. No existential crisis with one caveat - I've never felt more motivated to write, and specifically write with the objective of positively influencing others professionally.

On my 45th... Five lessons I've learned in my career (so far)...

LESSON #1 - CAREERS ARE NOT LINEAR

When we start this rollercoaster, practically everything we experience is incremental. We level up, video-game style. +1. +1. +1. +1. Academic. Assistant. Associate. Manager. But, that ends at some point. -3. +1 +2. -5. The debits hit hard. It's difficult to match the tone of our earlier years with clearer path & fewer life responsibilities.

Many of you reading this are from recently bankrupt employers, or laid off, or facing uncertainty; Others question career decisions, looking ahead to unwelcome or unintended certainty.

I've experienced 3 substantively non-linear professional events:

• From law school graduate to business school 1st year.
• From internet entrepreneur to toy neophyte.
• From public company executive to pre-revenue, early stage partner.

Each stop of this rollercoaster affords lessons and opportunities.

And, with certainty, regardless of debits, another ride, another credit, another opportunity comes.

LESSON #2 - KARMA IS REAL-ISH

I don't discount the possibility of a giant spreadsheet in the sky accumulating good and bad deeds. It's entirely possible. I like the concept that God (or whatever your construct) is great at Excel.

But, for a moment, let's assume that there is no entity or deity keeping score... that perhaps there are bigger things in the universe to track than the nice thing we did for Sheila in accounting.

It doesn't matter if a deity keeps track.

Because, Sheila in accounting kept track, maybe not even consciously... but on some level, Sheila kept track.

Karma is about Sheila in accounting.

Karma is also about Meg who sits next to Sheila. Meg will one day become President of Microsoft. Meg will remember that Sheila admired you... and in your challenging time, or in a time when you are seeking your greatest accomplishment... Meg avails it to you.

Earn your professional colleagues with humor, with hard work, with common sense, and with nonsense.

Karma is real-ish.

And, for those, who win without regard for other's wellbeing, perhaps karma is not just real-ish... but real. Like, real real. Or perhaps not. Above my pay grade.

I choose real-ish.

LESSON #3 - NOTHING IS ACCOMPLISHED BY A PARTY OF ONE

I recently read an article that summed up what I dislike most about business. The article's title...

"Goldman Sachs Crowns Solomon CEO."

Crowns.

Barf.

It's a little off topic, I recognize, but I'm free-writing, and this is my birthday... and I'm on the other side of 45.

Back on topic. In my career, there has never been an accomplishment that I can completely own. There is no academic, entrepreneurial or professional accomplishment that I can solely claim. I've acted as catalyst. I've led / co-led teams to success. I've been the loudest. I've been the wordsmith. But, strictly alone, I definitively have accomplished nothing.

A business crown connotes royalty, manifest destiny, invocable right. It's gross.

Albert Einstein at a table of one is a genius. But, you add anyone else to that table, and Einstein is immediately more well rounded. Add two, even more well rounded. Even at that level of genius, no crown.

CEO's have a duty to shareholders, a duty to employees, and a moral contract to humanity.

CEO's are servants - not royalty.

One person can change the world acting as a catalyst, not as king or queen.

LESSON #4 - EVERYONE WEARS A DIFFERENT TINT OF GLASSES

I started my career with the rosiest of rose colored glasses. I saw everyone at their absolute best, and I expected that their actions, feedback and care-taking of others was coming from the purest of places.

Then, I experienced half a career.

Today, my glasses are clear with a hint of rose, but depending on who I'm dealing with they can fog up to full rose or get a little dark real quickly.

But, more importantly than how I view the world, is an understanding that others view the world through their unique pair of glasses, shaped by their life experience and their unique spirit.

Frankly speaking, there are those who wear some dark, dark lenses in this professional world. They see others in the worst light. They attribute the worst possible behavior from benign actions. When you pair darkness with power and a lack of introspection, these are the worst people in business (and in humanity).

But, this is about how others see you.

Not about how you see them.

Whether you are rose, clear or dark, be self-aware of how your outlook shades your decision making in business, be fair to others in light **pun** of your tint.

LESSON #5 - WE ARE TEMPORARY & LIFE IS FLUID

I remember having a 50+ year career time horizon. I was a teenager, working at a kid's clothing / toy store. Everything ahead. No limitations. If you asked what I wanted accomplish in life, I might reply MD on Monday, commissioner of baseball on Tuesday, and President of the United States on Wednesday. LOL.

Turns out - I'm weak in science, I don't really know the rules of baseball, and my politics are too dimensional.

Thankfully, Thursday came for me in the form of businessperson.

25+ years later. I'm in the middle of this career. I know who I am, mostly. And, I know that some of my best friends have come from caring about my colleagues.

25 years went too quickly.

The next 25... the next 5... not guaranteed.

So, the last business lesson at my perceived midpoint is to embrace mortality & recognize our footprint is collective. Any individual thumbprint is temporary.

I deeply miss 3 good friends in business who passed in the last 18 months, and I'm so fortunate to have known them.

Today, I co-own a toy company.

Today, I am at the midway point.

Tomorrow is a gift.

If I make 50 years in business, I'll surely have lessons 6-10.

LESSON 6 - SUCCESS IS NOT AN EXTERNAL MEASURE

It's now November. I've been 45 for less than a month, and my original projection of lesson 6-10 taking another 25 years was apparently greatly overestimated. :-)

There aren't enough affirming external accolades in the entire world (not enough money, land, power, status, prestige) that will quench hunger for success IF that hunger is entirely driven by external accolades.

Success is subjective. Every single person measures it differently. Certainly, there are measures of success that most of us might agree upon, but no two people define success exactly the same way.

For me...

• Happiness is a key measure of success. Try as you might, you can't measure my day to day happiness.
• Balance is a key measure of success... Balancing my life-long objective of ethical financial gain with my life-long objective of connecting with people - my children, my wife, my friends and family...
• Self-Expression is a key measure of success. Hi, Linkedin! Thank you for providing this forum. I felt less successful without a writing platform. I felt less successful without an audience. I'll need to discuss with a psychologist at some point, I realize. LOL.
• Humor is a key measure of success. How many people did I make laugh today? Did my mom laugh? That's one that I still get to do... make my mom laugh. (Here's my favorite joke of the moment, by Sarah Silverman... Sarah Silverman visited a public pool. There was a sign at the pool that said, "If you've had diarrhea in the last two weeks, do not enter this pool." Silverman responded, "The sign might as well have said no Jewish people allowed!" This one made mom, who is Jewish, laugh. Success!!)
• Security is a key measure of success. G-d forbid if tomorrow is my last day, is my family safe and secure?

Success is fluid - It's much more like water than concrete. Ok, maybe it's more like wet concrete. Before children, my success measures were more financial; After children, my success measures were more emotional. Before I had a car, success was about convincing my dad that I was responsible enough to own a car - Specifically, he didn't want me to drive the car to the dog track in West Memphis, Arkansas; After I had a car, success was about sneaking to West Memphis, Arkansas with my friends to the dog track... Don't tell dad.

Success is circumstantial - I live near the beach in Los Angeles. If I look over the horizon to the North, I see Malibu... Malibu is gorgeous. It's sprawling. Every financial success indicator - houses, cars, clothing, bank accounts, fancy food, fancy people... Last week, however, a sinister fire reminded us all about the limitations of financial success in the face of life threatening outcomes.

Success is partially uncontrollable - You can work your entire life for financial success, and one bad diagnosis, one twist of fate driving, one phone call at work, one left turn instead of a right turn reminds us that financial success alone is nothing without health.

I worked very hard to build a career... to help build a company... to build a reputation... I was driven by the quest, by the promise of fruits of financial success, by my passion for the entertainment and toy space, and by my need to be known and appreciated.

But, as I've said, success is circumstantial, success is fluid, success is time-bound, success is subjective, success is partially uncontrollable, and (to me) the definition of success with this company has evolved - much like it evolved after children. Today, success is less financial and inward facing and more about the careers and lives of all of the people at the company - both internal (colleagues, business partners) and external (licensors, retail partners).

• Connectedness, therefore, is a key measure of success (for me). Maybe I just worked out my need for an audience without consulting a psychologist!! I need an audience because I have a desire to connect. Linkedin, and social media in general, has offered another substantive solution.

With all of the above in mind... There are two key measures that are definitively NOT measures of success for me - oversharing and wordiness!

With warm regards and hopes that you got something out of the business lessons learned during the first half of my career.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Padawer

(C) Jeremy Padawer - October 26, 2018 (1-5); November 18, 2018 (6)