Musings at Altitude

I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking back on some of the toughest personal and professional challenges I’ve faced in my life.  Here’s a quick run down on some of those in each category:

Personal

(1) June 9th will be what would have been the 16th birthday of our daughter Gabrielle who was stillborn on this day back in 1992; we still visit her as often as possible in her resting place in Southern California, and even with the passing of time, the memory’s fresh and the pain is still very real

(2) In the spring of 2002, we had gone for over 6 months without a paycheck – the executive team of our Silicon Valley company had given up pay to help the company get through the worst of times after 9/11 when the VC’s were highly reluctant to fund any companies; I remember clearly sitting on the back deck talking with my wife about selling the house, which we had just recently built and moved into; but then we got a term sheet, and shortly thereafter we closed the round and finally got paid

(3) Just before Christmas in 1998 while sitting in Amsterdam on company business, some challenges we were having in the company and the lack of dialogue at the executive level to resolve those challenges convinced me that it was time to move on; I sent a two word message to my friend and boss, “I quit”, and then began an odyssey of incredible challenge without a job and without a paycheck that led to my own company and an entrepreneurial path that I’m in some ways still on today

Professional

(1) In 1984 we deployed to Europe with a team of communications experts to fix the secure voice network supporting the 4-star General in Europe; a European team had spent many months trying to fix the problems in this system and the powers to be deployed our team to fix the problem; after some tense moments during testing and troubleshooting (during the height of the cold war), we came out of Europe with the system fixed and lots of senior ranking people smiling; to us it was no big deal; apparently to them it was much bigger than to us

(2) In 1992 we were challenged to do a 3 year job in just about 1 year and do what would have been a $45M effort through a contracted path for less than $15M through an in-house effort; we were young and stupid and said, “sure”, and 3 days prior to mission need, we activated all capabilities for only $11.7M

(3) In 2001as the internet bubble burst and the resultant loss of jobs in the telecom world escalated, our small consulting firm struggled mightily to maintain any level of utilization as consultants were purged in most of the companies that were our clients; with fewer and fewer of us billable, payroll became a bi-weekly challenge and the pressure and struggle became more than any team of individuals should ever bear

As I think back on these personal and professional challenges (and these are only a few of the many, many challenges that I’ve faced), I smile in knowing that who I am today has been forged from the challenges I went through back then.  I remember so clearly the tears, the trauma, and the deeply rooted worries of the personal challenges, and I also remember the tension, the incredible stress, and the constantly pressing doubts of the professional challenges.  I was able to overcome because of faith, family and passion, but God didn’t promise things would be easy…just that He’d be right there with us through it all and His magnificent plan would play out.

As I look at the personal and professional challenges I face today and compare them to those I’ve faced in the past, I take great solace in knowing that I’m much better prepared to respond to challenge and to overcome hurdles today than I ever was when taking on those challenges from my past.  It’s still faith, family and passion.  The same tools still get me through.  The remembering helps me keep things in perspective.