Join us if you're yearning for business insights peppered with adventure, humanity, and a dash of humility. It’s more than success; it’s about significance.
The CC - “Tito, I Can See the Skin on Top of Your Head!”
“Tito, I Can See the Skin on Top of Your Head!”I was brought up short. Embarrassed by the truth. I recovered, laughed, and said; “Yes, you go bald as you get old.” My youngest nephew stared at me for a moment. “Will it happen to me?” “Yup. Then you'll finally be old. And hopefully you'll be wise!” He considered this. “I hear when you’re old, you forget things.” “Yeah. That’s right. But now it's my questions that are more important than answers.” “Huh? What do you mean?” “When I was young, I used to think being smart was knowing lots of answers.” He looked so confused, “I still don’t get it.” I chuckled, knowing my nephew didn’t really care if I was bald, or had the right answer. But I think he innately knew I loved him. “I’m still learning, just like you.” Seniors accumulate life stories that include our skills, failures, relationships, resources and perspectives. But stories are everywhere, especially online. Dime a dozen. However maybe love and wisdom are still passed on the old-fashioned way: real person to person. Through folks like us, gently encouraging a younger generation. We’ve got to start by learning how to calmly and confidently rest in our own identity. This has taken me an embarrassingly long time, and I’m still not there. And only then it’s possible for us to take all that life’s given us and turn it outward. Which is risky. It's not centered on our sense of self and how our acumen gives us the wisdom at navigating life. This turning happens in ordinary moments, not formal coaching. It happens during a phone call, or over a shared coffee. With my nephew, it was while we had cards all over the living room floor, teaching him how to play spider solitaire. Growing old, like everything else worth doing, requires practice. Instead of retirement being my new reality, I’ve taken mentoring, coaching, or “grandfathering” as my new career. In each new relationship, I’m learning how to start with questions, not answers. I’ve found huge personal rewards when I discover how to generate new life by becoming nourishment for someone younger. Thanks to those of you who have trusted me with your life stories, deepest hurts and affections, profound decisions and wonderful questions. I’ve loved generating new life with you. I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn and Facebook See you next week, Grayson Did someone forward you this email? Get weekly reflections straight to your inbox by subscribing to The Compassionate Competitor. Want to share this issue via text, social media, or email? Just copy and paste this link: [ARCHIVE URL GOES HERE] |
Grayson Bain
Join us if you're yearning for business insights peppered with adventure, humanity, and a dash of humility. It’s more than success; it’s about significance.
Maybe I've Got No Bad Parts. Parts of me felt flawed, I was a failure. I was grieving my damaged identity, imagined future. I’d disappointed an investor, employees and customers. Sitting at the cafe, feeling completely abandoned. I was depressed. Angry at myself for making such a mess of the company I owned. But little did I know I was learning about my relationship to suffering. Lessons that would enrich me decades later. “Just let me change places with you. I’ll take your apron and your...
A Syncopated Rhythm of Joy and Pain I once believed the pain of business failures was something to conquer, not listen to. I had learned to be strong, to keep a tight tempo, and override any failure. I felt an acute tightness in my chest, and my gut roiled in discomfort in my determination to keep my life in balance and to shut out the discord of stressful days. Maybe it's the imbalance of stress and pain that feels to me like the dissonance of jazz. Peace isn't always found in perfect...
Old Men Ought to be Explorers Throughout my career, I collected skills that helped me build businesses. Last week, watching The Odyssey, I realized I've had my career with risks and rewards, but now I’m wondering what to do. After Odysseus won the battle at Troy, he travelled through numerous memorable adventures before finally reaching home twenty years later. It wasn't the battles that caused me to think about the movie’s plot, it was the ending. After surviving war, monsters and losing his...