Special Guest Post: Working, Retirement and Living More by Bill Mitchell

This month's post comes to us from a special guest and good friend, Bill Mitchell.  We first met 2 years ago at Microsoft when I candidly asked him for $5,000,000 to fund a BIG software idea.  He listened to the pitch, liked it enough to keep talking about the idea over beers (FYI, he's an AMAZING home-brewer) and eventually a friendship blossomed.  Last year he left a comfortable position at Microsoft to pursue his passions. Here is his story...

"1 year ago I was a 40-something vice president at Microsoft.   After an initial 2 year hiatus from startup activity somehow expanded into 18 years of stable employment, I decided it was finally time to step back and craft my next “2 year plan”.    Leaving Microsoft was an easy choice, because a key intersection in my optimal work Venn diagram had finally become the null set (grey area):

Yes, there were still plenty of opportunities in product areas I didn’t think the world actually needed, or that I didn’t play to my (admittedly self-assessed) strengths, or that I just found …well… boring.   Time to go…

Mid-Life Options

So what do you do when you leave a job after 18 years?  Live more?  What does that actually mean?   I canvassed colleagues fortunate enough to find themselves in a similar position, and found that they either:

1.       Retired
2.       Repeated or
3.       Went Crazy
I sometimes see my former colleagues in the “retirement” bucket at the golf course or on the tennis court or sometimes at the airport heading out on more vacations.  When I ask them what they’ve been up to, I typically get a long pause and a response like “oh, you know, golfing and stuff…”.   I guess you could say they are indeed “living more”, since they have all the time in the world to spend on vacations and leisure sports (more about this later).

The “repeaters” are the ones that I relate to a bit more (perhaps because my perma-slice makes golf a less attractive option!)   They’re the ones who dive right into a comparable job at a comparable company within weeks of leaving their old jobs, rebound-style.  They do what I was sorely tempted to do:  find somewhere (quick! It’s awkward to not have an identity == job!) to repeat my experience, somewhere where my optimal work Venn diagram hopefully revealed more opportunity. 

I confess to almost becoming a “repeater”.   Headhunters call, your ego begs you for a title again,  and ingrained mental habits draw you inexorably toward the comfort of a similar job.   On the brink of committing to a new (but “repeat”) job,  I was fortunate enough to have a  conversation with a “crazy” friend. 
My friend P left our old company five years ago and instead of retiring (he’s in his 50’s…it was an option) he immediately became a crazy tornado of activity.  He joined several exciting small companies he saw as good Venn diagram fits for him, but in non-operating roles, so he maintained directional control but without attendant 9-5 time-suck.   He also started two companies of his own, but again hired operating officers to run the companies, so he can balance his time and do even more.   He maintains enough free enough to travel extensively (he’s visited most of the world) and engage in creative passions (such as creating fine furniture).  He pursues several charity causes he deeply believes in as well.  

Crazy was the way to go….I was inspired!  Since then I have started two companies of my own, joined the boards of several exciting new ventures and am making up for lost time on a long list of once-put-off activities:  motorcycle and flying adventures, travel, new learning (mechanical design, welding) and brushing up on old studies (languages, calculus and history).

Why “retiring” and “repeating” are not Living More

Why not “retire”, especially if one has the means?  Retirement, after all, achieves the ultimate in Live/Work ratio, right?   Classic retirement, to me,  is like dining on lemon meringue pie…and nothing else…for breakfast lunch and dinner.   It might sound great for a meal or even a day but… ugh…way too much of a good thing!   You need balance.  You need protein.  You need vitamins and minerals and fiber and electrolytes and ….all that other stuff too.    Just as your brain and body need Work!

Work is not the enemy!   Fulfilling, enjoyable work with colleagues you appreciate and who appreciate you is the protein in our diet-of-life.    Or maybe cholesterol is a better metaphor:  LDLs (“bad cholesterol”) is like bad work:  you want to minimize it, because it harms you.   “Bad work” is the soul-crushingly boring stuff, or the work you perform in a poisonous political environment, or perhaps just the stuff that is a gross mismatch to your talents and abilities.  You do it because you need the money, that’s it.   But “good work”,  HDLs (good cholesterol) is not just good, it is vital.   It’s stimulating, rewarding and makes you feel alive.  The goal of Living More shouldn’t just be the elimination of cholesterol (Work), it should be minimizing bad cholesterol (harmful work) and maximizing good cholesterol (rewarding/fulfilling/satisfying work).

Repeating a job situation with a next job doesn’t necessarily net you any increases in HDL/LDL (good work/bad work) ratio.  And it generally won’t improve your L/W…if anything, with any new job you’ll see your score decrease.   Avoid the inertia!   Truly Live More not just by Working less, but by Working Better!"

-Bill Mitchell