20. CHAPTER 3 - Step Three: Create a Personal "Board of Advisors" 20. CAPÍTULO 3 - Terceira etapa: Criar um "Conselho de Consultores" pessoal

It was time for me to establish a new goal.

Should I seek out another position as chief marketing officer, proving myself by building bigger and better brands, striving for greater revenue (and profits), and helping to turn a company into a brand icon? ||buscar||||||||demostrando||||||||||||||||||||||| ¿Debería buscar otro puesto como director de marketing, probándome a mí mismo construyendo marcas más grandes y mejores, esforzándome por conseguir mayores ingresos (y beneficios) y ayudando a convertir una empresa en un icono de marca? Or should I set my sights even higher? ¿O debería poner mis miras aún más altas? My ultimate goal was to become a CEO. But it seldom happens for those in marketing. ||raras veces||||| Pero rara vez les ocurre a los que se dedican al marketing. I had spent the greater part of my career convincing top management that marketing can and should directly influence all operating activities, yet I was not responsible for all of them. To truly define the brand, the ultimate marketing job was to be the CEO. Para definir realmente la marca, el trabajo de marketing definitivo era ser el Director General.

If I chose the latter direction, what else did I need to learn to become CEO? Si elegía esta última opción, ¿qué más necesitaba aprender para convertirme en Director General? What were my chances of getting such a job? What sacrifices or risks were involved? Honestly, these questions weren’t clear to me at the time.

In the wake of my disappointment, after years of go-go-go, I felt lost. I needed to figure out what I wanted to be all over again. And I was scared.

For the first time in ages, I had no company to attach to my name. I loathed the thought of meeting new people without a clear explanation of what I did. Over the next few months, I had hundreds of conversations with the people I trust.

I took a Vipassana meditation retreat where I sat for ten hours each day for ten days straight—in silence. |||Vipassana|||||||||||||||| For a guy like me, who can’t shut up, it was torture. I wondered if I might fritter away all my time thinking. |||||desperdiciar||||| Me preguntaba si desperdiciaría todo mi tiempo pensando. I wondered if I should go back to Pennsylvania and find a smaller pond to inhabit. |||||||||||||estanque|| Me pregunté si debería volver a Pensilvania y encontrar un estanque más pequeño donde habitar. During that time I wrote a detailed twelve-page mission statement asking such questions as What are my strengths? ||||||||||||||||||fortalezas

What are my weaknesses? What are the various industry opportunities available to me? I listed the venture capitalists I wanted to meet, the CEOs I knew, the leaders I could turn to for advice, and the companies that I admired. ||||capitalistas de riesgo|||||||||||||||||||||| I left all my options open: teacher, minister, politician, chief executive officer. For each potential new direction, I filled out a Networking Action Plan. When everything was laid out, I reached out to my personal board of advisors.

I didn’t have the qualifications to be appointed a CEO with a major corporation. ||||calificaciones||||||||| Yet when I looked inside myself, that was exactly what I wanted to do.