Are you facing the second half of your life? I am. As a matter of fact, I may be closer to the middle of my second half. For the most part, I am happy with where my life is. But I do have a stream of thought that there has to be more than this, that I have not yet reached my potential. If this is the case, I better get at it. I better find the road that will take me to my potential. I pray that road isn't a dead end.

What can I become? Are you afraid to keep asking that question? How often is it possible to re-invent yourself? I believe it is probable that we can re-invent ourselves every day. Almost eight years ago, someone I know asked himself these same questions. His questions drove him to find answers. He was running his own leasing business and was very successful. He had completed his MBA, but was he really accomplished? Was he really successful?

9/11. Business became a little more challenging but never one to shirk a challenge, he pushed forward. Then, the questions loomed huge over his head after the unexpected death of his father. His business focus shifted to closing his business instead of growing it. The death of his father was his butterfly effect. I understand this because "he" is my brother, Andrew, and I experienced something very similar when our father passed.

In the leasing world, you are successful if you help other people go into debt. This was no longer something Andrew felt good about doing. "I really loved nurturing, developing and helping other people." He pursued a second Master's in Personal and Executive Coaching. "My dad was young. He was a dreamer and he always focused on doing something bigger and better. He was always so healthy." There were many dreams that he never realized.

"It was an awakening moment for me. He was sixty-five, I was thirty-five and it was the first time I felt vulnerable, that I could fail, that I was mortal. I realized that I am going to die and if I am like him, I have about thirty years left. I took inventory of my life and my business. " That is when Andrew realized that what he was doing, his business, isn't what he wanted to do. "How do I get out of here? My dad was too young to die and there was so much left unanswered about his life."


"While the early years of my financial career had been very creative, I suddenly felt very stagnant." But he was afraid to let go, there is a lot of ego tied up in being the president of one's own company and having built a landmark office in the local community. He quotes Tom Cruise from Risky Business, " 'Sometimes, you gotta just say what the heck...' I am going to go out and do this for me. That is what my dad always did." In 2002, shortly after our father passed, Andrew started Telios Corporation where his specialty is Behavioral Executive Coaching - and it is safe to say that he loves what he does.

Andrew just completed his PhD and will graduate later this month. I think he's done with school, but I have learned to never say never. "I am a good listener and my clients get that I am a good listener. I can say the truth to them and it doesn't hurt their feelings." What does all of this have to do with recruiting and HR? Everything. "The most important asset really is the human side of the equation - focus less on the resource side. We have the resource side down, time to focus on the human side."

"Life is too short not to live it. Bringing life and leadership into harmony." That's what it's all about. Love Today

by rayannethorn