If you want to be a CEO, a partner at a consulting firm. or the head of a global private equity firm; if you want to be a successful salesperson; raise money for the business you’ve founded; or be the head of development at a not-for-profit organization – what should you eat in order to maximize your chances of success?
When I first read “Bonfire of the Vanities” in the late 1980’s, the book’s protagonist, the bond trading Master of the Universe Sherman McCoy, struck me as very wealthy, a huge Wall Street success. I recently dipped back in to “Bonfire of the Vanities” as I was curious to measure Sherman’s financial success, circa 1987, against our current 2017 standards of what it means to be rich––our age of the TV show “Billions”, the Kardashians and the Trumps, and multi-million dollar birthday parties.
Try this quick quiz: If your child could only be one of the following, which would you choose: (a) Rich(b) Smart (c) Happy (d) Good Many of you may have seen this classic question — it’s really more thought experiment than quiz — but if you haven’t, take a moment and reflect.
The wealthy acquire second homes, fancy cars, museum-quality art, and this season’s clothing and accessories. They hire assistants, house managers, gardeners, maids, drivers, nannies, and tutors – all in an effort to ensure they’ll have time to enjoy these possessions, and time to spend with loved ones. For even when money is no object, time remains elusive. In today’s frenetic, fast-paced world, time is the ultimate luxury.
For more than 30 years, a hallmark of my professional life has been global travel. I spent 20 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working to prevent the spread of health conditions affecting people around the world. I did the same for several years at the Gates Foundation and then for almost a decade I was the President and CEO of CARE, a leading international humanitarian and development organization (originator of CARE packages sent to Europe post-World War II), that operates in over 80 countries around the world. My travels took me from rich world capitals to the most rural villages in poor countries where the average person earns less than $2 a day. I would often have to hop off of planes ready to meet with high level government officials, including Heads of State and then take a long car ride to a remote village and meet with village officials and the community. And most evenings included obligatory and often quite ceremonial dinners. Also as a woman, often meeting with men …
