The Cost You Haven’t Invoiced Yet

The Cost You Haven’t Invoiced Yet

Sniper Alley One of the more striking things that surfaces in conversations with leaders approaching the end of long operating chapters is how many of their peers are getting sick. Not in abstract terms. Personally. The colleague who had the heart event at 62. The...
The Question Money Can’t Answer

The Question Money Can’t Answer

By ETJ Life – helping PE-backed CEOs thrive in work and life. Financial Freedom Doesn’t Answer What’s Next At some point, you do the math and the math comes back fine. Maybe it is after the first transaction, or the second. Maybe it is the moment the...
Building the Next Thing on Purpose

Building the Next Thing on Purpose

By ETJ Life – helping PE-backed CEOs thrive in work and life. Designing the Next Chapter Before Defaulting Into It The phone will ring before you are ready. It always does. You will barely have had time to decompress before the opportunities start arriving. A...
The Weight of the Seat

The Weight of the Seat

By ETJ Life – helping PE-backed CEOs thrive in work and life. The Weight Nobody Else Can Carry for You There is a specific kind of pressure that lives in the CEO seat, and it has nowhere to go. You cannot take it to the board. They are evaluating you. You cannot...
The Invisible Work of Leaving

The Invisible Work of Leaving

By ETJ Life – helping PE-backed CEOs thrive in work and life. The Grief Nobody Warns You About Nobody warns you about the grief. When you step out of the role, you expect relief. You expect the satisfaction of having gotten to a great outcome. You expect a sense...
What the Board Actually Hired You to Do

What the Board Actually Hired You to Do

By ETJ Life – helping PE-backed CEOs thrive in work and life. You Don’t Need to Out-Know the Room. You Need to Out-Lead It. Almost every first-time PE-backed CEO goes through some version of this. You walk into your first board meeting. The room fills with...