Guest Post

Are you ready to ditch your business partner? Are you fighting or avoiding each other? Four years ago, my co-founder journey began with my dear friend Juletta. Setting out to make our mark, we created a coaching business. We rode the typical start-up rollercoaster of highs and lows. Then we hit a brick wall that rocked our partnership, a make-or-break stage.

I turned 60 this year. I knew that milestone was coming. I was ready for it. I was not ready for all the other transitions 2021 would bring.

It was about five years ago I got a pang in my heart to do something different in my career, but stepping away from 20+ years of corporate life is easier said than done. I had spent decades building my reputation as a trusted hotel executive, holding almost every position imaginable in the industry from Front Desk Supervisor to Assistant Rooms Operations Manager to Housekeeping Supervisor.

I wrote the first book for a general audience about what we then called “the greenhouse effect,” way back in 1989, and so I’ve been involved with tackling the climate crisis pretty much from the start.

It was a normal enough moment. I was sitting at a Starbucks, coffee in hand, putting off some work for a few indulgent minutes of Facebook. I was robotically scrolling, partially engaged with the usual mix of animals, self-help quotes and messages from friends.

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? For me, it’s usually a snappy tune with singable lyrics —a song that holds meaning in some way. But it gets stuck on repeat, and the more I try to shut it down, the more stubbornly it plays over and over, forcing me to listen.

I’m waiting for a feeling. I can’t start without it.

Lately I’ve been wondering what it means to be at this stage of the pandemic? Are we in the middle, a bit past it, or leaving it behind? Or are we just coming to terms with the fact that Covid and its cousins are here to stay?

The deepening. Trust begat over time is one of my unexpected pleasures of aging. As we travel away from any starting point, the widening perspective allows us to view factors once invisible.

A preface: Maybe an act of self protection. I suspect most people who will read this are the exception to the rule, and we are the ones who can move the needle.