He’s baaaack!  Ok, it has been a long time between posts.  Too long in fact.  I have decided to start an early New Year’s resolution to blog more regularly.  After all, there is such good stuff out there right now between Tiger Woods, health care reform and the economy.

Let’s start with a nice holiday message.  I had a chance to catch up with an old friend yesterday that I haven’t seen in more than 10 years.  It is interesting to see the career paths we have chosen and the direction our personal lives have gone, yet we were able to pick up right were we had left off just like we had last seen each other last week.  As I think about it, it all comes back to core values.  It is important to know who you are and what you stand for and surrounding yourself with people that share those same values.

My friend and I first met through a business relationship.  His company provided a service to mine, and over the course of the years we became good friends.  As often happens in life, he took a new job, I took a new new job and our paths have not crossed in all these years.   Professionally we both grew through challenging jobs, and personally our families grew through the challenges of life.  Both of us are still married to the same wives.  Probably a major accomplishment in itself these days.  We both have healthy well-adjusted kids who have completed or are in the process of completing their college degrees.

As we talked, it was clear that what we had in common years ago was still relevant today.  We both strive to be successful in our jobs, seek out challenges and continue to learn and adapt to a changing business environment.  And on a personal level, we both knew the value of staying focused on family and setting limits for our kids to help keep them safe and on the road to success.  We had both experienced hearing our kids telling us how mean we are and that on occasions they hated us.  While it was tough to take at the time, looking back today, we were both OK with that.

It can be lonely making the right decision personally or professionally, and so my point is that is is good to see others out there that struggle in the same ways.  I always thought it was worth it and apparently others do as well.  I hope that in some way and I can offer someone else out there struggling during the holidays some encouragement to stay focused on what is important in life and making the right decisions personally and professionally.  Despite the occasional struggles, I am truly blessed to have a great family and job.  Hey, I’m not perfect, but I’m grateful this holiday season that I’m no Tiger Woods or Bernie Madoff either!

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