Big Sur Rendezvous

They say 90% of success is planning. This leaves 1% on starting, 8% for execution and the final 1% for luck. A few of us have been trying to get back up to Plaskett Ridge for an off-season adventure. The cloud cover over the pacific is simply dreamy. With the Route 1 closure being closed for an unknown duration we took inventory of what we did know, and that was the alignment of our schedules.

Zane, Zagi and I met in the town of Paso Robles as we had to bypass the closures on Route 1, and decided to head for the coast by way of Route 46.

To make a long story long we never made it. We got up to Plaskett Ridge road only to find out it was closed. We pivoted quickly and found an empty site at the Plaskett Creek Campground. Despite not being above the clouds, it was still a couple days away and we had a fun time. As they say, the destination is the destination, but the learning and memory building is in the journey.

We’ll try again. No big deal.

11th Annual Sinatra Party: Strangers in the Night - Wingtip Club

A big applause to the team at Wingtip for hosting the 11th annual Sinatra Party.

It was fantastic to celebrate the season with strangers turned friends.

Hanging out with Ola...

A few nights ago I got a random text along the lines of “Ola is in town, did you want to come to hang out?”

Ola is Ola Källenius, the newest CEO of Daimler. Daimler owns Mercedes Benz, and Ola is effectively also the CEO of Mercedes-Benz. How does one reply to such a text other than, ‘hell yes?”

So, just what led up to this crazy chain of events and just what did I do to make this happen?

One of the notations from the prior week was from a talk by a fellow EO’er, Brent Freeman. He mentioned, “Is life happening to you, or is life happening for you?” The sentiment is, this thing we call ‘life’ is going to happen with or without you, you can either let it happen to you or you can embrace and live life. That text came from my buddy Sia, and if we find the genesis of how Sia and I met it would be just after college. We were connected by a mutual friend, Brooks, who said you two should connect. Both of us embraced life and figured what’s the worst that can happen? The worst? we spend a night with an annoying character that wasn’t worth our time. The best outcome? This could be it, but in reality, Sia and I have been best of friends for the better part of our lives now. We’ve co-founded businesses together, we’ve collaborated on countless projects, we got shit-faced, plastered drunk more times than I could count, we’ve done incredibly stupid things but survived, we both cheer each other on and we support each other in whatever endeavors we find ourselves in. Had I not taken up Brook’s suggestion of meeting Sia, I’m not sure if I would have spent an evening laughing the night away with Ola.

To backdate this inception point further we have to figure out how I met Brooks, and we met through Audi’s and Mortgage. We both owned Audi’s, both decided to attend a couple of the early audiworld.org drives, and then when I first transitioned into Mortgage I connected with Brooks for advice. If we take this a step further, one had to ask how I ended up involved with Audis and that was because I totaled my Toyota MR2 Turbo on the side of Route 9. My mother said the MKIV Supra in our driveway that I wanted as a replacement was way too expensive to insure, so I had to go out and find a 4-door sedan.

To make a long story short, things in life consistently happen but we have the choice to either become martyrs of our own existence or to embrace life and be excited for what’s to come. I never bought an Audi to meet Ola, I just bought an Audi because that was what I needed to do and in retrospect some 20+ years later it put me in the same clubhouse to 3 am waxing off-the-record with one of the most sought after CEOs in the world.

So, is life happening to you, or is life happening for you?

EO Silicon Valley - 2020 Lessons

Here we are in the middle of 2021 with lots of unpack. The events and aftermath of 2020 will be on full display for what I imagine years to come.

What often feels like failure turns out to be a pivotable point in hindsight. After nearly two decades in the real estate technology and consulting space I thought I knew what residential real estate was. In the first two years at the helm of METIS I had to unlearn everything I thought I knew only to adapt and learn how to deliver a product the market craved. In March of 2020 as we entered quarantine I looked around the CEO community for answers. It was uncharted territory and some CEO’s flourished, some failed, but I had to learn how to lead again and become the leader that my team needed rather than the growth minded person at the helm that I was before. Today, because of the events of 2020 we are a stronger team, have a thriving company and I am leading with new lessons learned and the leader my team wished for.

It’s been an honor and a privilege to share my experience with the global entrepreneurial group Entrepreneur’s Organization as well as the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.