Mission focus, latest addition

From the latest Business Week, a story about an ad exec who decided to pull a Jerry Maguire.

Alex Bogusky probably doesn't believe in all the things I believe in, but he is surely a bright guy, and he obviously believes in hard work and professionalism. He must be very brave, too.

I applaud him, and hope that the youth of today would find him to be a role model.

From all appearances, he finally figured out that some things are more important than others.

He was just "selling pizzas," and finally realized it. He was helping other people sell things to kids that they didn't need.

He took the plunge and decided to get out at the top. That's happening a lot these days. Ayn Rand wrote a whole book about it. This may not BE that type of drop out, but who knows?

Some of us refuse to just "sell pizzas." Our lives mean more than that. In Mr. Bogusky's case, it was evident that his professional life was inconsistent with his evolving personal values.

That, or he got out because he felt he could afford to.

Rock bands do that all the time. But even then, they don't stop playing music all day, they just stop doing it for cash. The creative thing doesn't go away, the drive to achieve doesn't go away, but the need to support this huge glowworm of followers gets old in a hurry and they get out. Some can handle it, and some can't.

Let's hope Mr. Bogusky can find his Raison d'etre elsewhere. Good for him.

UPDATE

I've linked here to an adweek story/blog about the "midlife crisis" aspect of this, with some more "in" stuff.