.Hi there as well as invited to Modern chief executive officer! I'm Stephanie Mehta, chief executive officer and also chief content policeman of Mansueto Ventures. Every week this bulletin explores comprehensive approaches to management drawn from discussions along with executives and entrepreneurs, as well as coming from the pages of Inc. as well as Rapid Company. If you received this email list from a close friend, you can easily sign up to receive it on your own every Monday morning.Being a CEO in these times is tough: Tensions consist of satisfying shareholders, handling rising expenses and also dealing with recurring supply-chain issues, as well as making fantastic place of work. However, for several execs, being an ex-CEO provides its personal set of obstacles. Some battle to cope with the loss of the perks as well as condition that include the job, while others really feel obliged to observe the well-trodden path to private equity or even corporate boards." Yearly, hundreds of execs retire from long and effective company careers. Yet few are actually gotten ready for the trip they are about to start," previous Outpost Communications CEO Maggie Wilderotter proclaimed previously this year in a Harvard Organization Assessment essay, penned with career trainer Rick Smith as well as headhunter Dennis Carey.Life beyond MicrosoftOne previous corporate tribal chief who seems to be to have located his footing is actually previous Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ballmer got the Los Angeles Clippers basketball crew for $2 billion in 2014 and merely introduced the staff's new home, the Intuit Dome. (Quick Business calls it "Steve Ballmer's $ 2 billion playground for LA Clippers fans.") The staff as well as arena have actually offered Ballmer a feeling of reason that possesses, somehow, overshadowed his expertises at the tech giant. "I have actually dealt with a considerable amount of products over the course of my profession at Microsoft, and also I've adored them all," Ballmer informed me in the course of a meeting this month at Intuit Dome in front of a target market that consisted of members of the Youthful Presidents' Organization and also building workers that aided build the facility and also their households. "Yet ... in the growth of this particular building, I perhaps possessed a more clear viewpoint of what I would like to carry out, and I possess the best fulfillment, certainly not just because it thrived, however [because] it's a financial investment in the neighborhood, too." Intuit Dome has actually very much been actually an enthusiasm task for Ballmer, who found to make certain that all supporters have a costs expertise. Every chair is developed along with easy access to concessions and bathrooms, phone billing capabilities, and also substantial leg space, no matter ticket price.Ballmer's considerable assets are repaying. The Clippers won 51 games in the 2023-2024 time, and also completed fourth in the NBA Western Event. (The Dallas Mavericks removed the staff coming from the playoffs.) And Ballmer regularly ranks as one of the leading NBA proprietors in follower polls.He is actually an improbable shining example for post-CEO life. His retirement life coming from Microsoft in 2014 after 34 years at the company and also thirteen years as chief executive officer was emotional and also filled. Though earnings nearly tripled in the course of his period, the share essentially went stale, and also the firm missed the chance to end up being a player in cell phones and also web solutions. Under the gun coming from the company's board, Ballmer looked for to overhaul the company before eventually choosing he was actually not the very best person to relocate Microsoft ahead. A reporter who recorded his separation coming from Microsoft illustrated him as "very depressing to leave behind the provider." CEO, reinventedPart of what creates Ballmer a second-act success story is actually that he failed to try to reproduce his corporate life. Instead, he took possession of an option to obtain the Clippers after previous co-owner Donald Sterling was prohibited coming from operating the group or linking with the NBA. "Having too many selections can easily cause selection exhaustion, reverting to skip choices, or even preventing deciding completely," Wilderotter as well as her co-authors point out, suggesting ex-CEOs to instead redefine their reason or even identity. (Ballmer is also creator of USAFacts, a nonpartisan data provider.) Bill George, the previous Medtronic chief executive officer who recast himself as a management master after retirement life, has claimed that the former Chief executive officers who prosper are the ones that find methods "to create or even nurture things that will definitely outlive them." During the course of our meeting at the arena, Ballmer reflected this conviction. "Somebody told me as soon as, 'No one ever truly possesses a baseball staff. You look after it. You shepherd it, and also you bring it along,'" he claims. "Intuit Dome can be a little bit of what I carry out to shepherd this group along. Due to the fact that it's owned due to the enthusiasts in the end of the time, and also we just care for it." Are you an one-time CEO in a second act?Are you a former chief executive officer who possesses discovered objective in your 2nd action? Just how performed you set about discovering your brand-new identification? Send your understandings as well as stories to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I'll share the absolute most compelling examples in a future newsletter.Read and watch a lot more: 2nd acts Apply to one of the most Impressive Companies Awards and be actually acknowledged as an association driving the world ahead with advancement. Early-rate deadline: Friday, August 23.