One of the great satisfactions of being a coach is the opportunity to work with some truly extraordinary people who are seeking to experience as much as possible in life and to fulfill every ounce of their potential. Corey Ford, who's appeared here before, is one such person, and I enjoyed another thoughtful conversation with him yesterday.
I learned that back in March he'd been invited to give the keynote address at the annual banquet of the University of North Carolina's Morehead-Cain Scholars Program. The program--whose motto is "Create an extraordinary life"--offers high-potential students a four-year scholarship at Chapel Hill and access to a wide range of academic and professional resources. In his inspiring talk, Corey discusses how he made the most of this opportunity, and a few of his comments in particular stood out for me:
On his decision to leave a high-profile job: I thought I was at the top. I thought I would be there for the rest of my career, but I faced a choice: Stay and stagnate, or make my own way.
On exploration: We all have unwritten endings. Life is a journey, but not a linear one. Just like design, innovation and entrepreneurship, in life there are times to focus and times to flare, times to execute and times to explore. Congratulations—it's time for you to explore.
Kudos, Corey--I know there are a lot of people at Stanford (and I'm sure at Chapel Hill) who are looking forward to hearing about the next steps in your own non-linear journey.
