Street Smarts: Get Lost

By: Norm Brodsky

No reader of Inc. needs to be reminded of the challenges of going into business. I wonder, however, how much you have thought about the challenges of getting away from it. I’ve been thinking about them lately, and not just because I sold a majority interest in my company to a private equity firm last December. Long before the sale, I had set a goal for myself of spending 16 weeks annually — yes, that’s almost a third of the year — traveling or skiing or simply taking time off. I reached the goal three years ago, and I have continued the practice ever since. Along the way, I have become increasingly aware of the mistakes other people make when they take a break from their companies.

Those mistakes fall into two broad categories that roughly correspond to the age groups of the people involved. The first group is made up largely of younger people who think they are taking a vacation when in fact they have simply moved their offices outdoors. They spend most of the time doing work. The second group includes all those baby boomers for whom vacations are no longer enough. What they really want is a change in lifestyle. But because they haven’t done the necessary planning, they wind up alienating their customers, undermining their employees, and damaging their businesses.

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