.Hey there as well as welcome to Modern CEO! I'm Stephanie Mehta, chief executive officer and also main satisfied officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter checks out broad techniques to leadership reasoned chats along with execs and business people, as well as coming from the web pages of Inc. as well as Swift Firm. If you got this email list from a good friend, you may join to acquire it your own self every Monday morning.Being a chief executive officer at presents is difficult: Pressures feature pleasing shareholders, dealing with rising expenses and addressing on-going supply-chain issues, and also creating wonderful place of work. But for several execs, being an ex-CEO provides its personal collection of challenges. Some problem to deal with the loss of the rewards as well as standing that feature the task, while others experience obliged to observe the well-trodden pathway to private equity or corporate boards." Each year, hundreds of executives relinquish long and successful corporate occupations. Yet few are actually organized the journey they are about to embark on," former Frontier Communications CEO Maggie Wilderotter stated previously this year in a Harvard Organization Customer review essay, penned along with career trainer Rick Smith and also talent scout Dennis Carey.Life beyond MicrosoftOne previous business tribal chief who appears to have located his ground is actually past Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer. Ballmer acquired the Los Angeles Clippers basketball group for $2 billion in 2014 as well as just revealed the staff's brand-new home, the Intuit Dome. (Swift Firm calls it "Steve Ballmer's $ 2 billion recreation space for LA Clippers supporters.") The crew and sector have actually offered Ballmer a feeling of objective that has, somehow, eclipsed his experiences at the tech titan. "I have actually serviced a bunch of items over the course of my profession at Microsoft, and I have actually adored them all," Ballmer told me during the course of a meeting this month at Intuit Dome before a viewers that included participants of the Young Presidents' Company and also construction laborers who helped create the amenities and also their families. "But ... in the progression of this property, I probably had a clearer scenery of what I would like to perform, as well as I have the absolute most contentment, certainly not even if it turned out well, however [given that] it is actually an assets in the area, as well." Intuit Dome has quite been actually an enthusiasm job for Ballmer, who sought to make sure that all fans have a superior experience. Every chair is developed with easy accessibility to giving ins and also washrooms, phone demanding functionalities, and also ample lower leg room, irrespective of ticket price.Ballmer's considerable financial investments are actually settling. The Clippers won 51 games in the 2023-2024 season, and ended up fourth in the NBA Western Event. (The Dallas Mavericks removed the group coming from the playoffs.) And also Ballmer often places as one of the top NBA owners in follower polls.He is actually an extremely unlikely good example for post-CEO lifestyle. His retired life from Microsoft in 2014 after 34 years at the business and thirteen years as CEO was psychological and also filled. Though revenues nearly tripled throughout his period, the stock basically stood still, and the firm overlooked the option to become a gamer in mobile phones and also internet solutions. Under the gun coming from the company's panel, Ballmer looked for to remodel the business prior to eventually making a decision he was actually certainly not the greatest person to relocate Microsoft forward. A reporter who narrated his parting from Microsoft defined him as "really sad to leave behind the provider." CEO, reinventedPart of what creates Ballmer a second-act success story is actually that he didn't attempt to recreate his business lifestyle. Instead, he seized a possibility to acquire the Clippers after previous co-owner Donald Sterling was actually disallowed from operating the team or even connecting with the NBA. "Having too many selections can easily trigger decision fatigue, reverting to fail possibilities, or perhaps steering clear of deciding altogether," Wilderotter as well as her co-authors say, advising ex-CEOs to rather redefine their purpose or identity. (Ballmer is additionally creator of USAFacts, a detached information provider.) Costs George, the former Medtronic chief executive officer that modify himself as a leadership master after retirement, has stated that the previous Chief executive officers who grow are the ones who locate techniques "to make or even nourish factors that will outlive all of them." Throughout our meeting at the stadium, Ballmer reflected this sentiment. "Someone told me once, 'Nobody ever before actually possesses a baseball group. You take care of it. You shepherd it, and you bring it along,'" he mentions. "Intuit Dome could be a small amount of what I do to shepherd this team along. Considering that it's had due to the followers in the end of the day, and our team merely deal with it." Are you a single CEO in a 2nd act?Are you a former chief executive officer that possesses discovered objective in your 2nd action? How performed you set about discovering your new identification? Deliver your insights and also narratives to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I'll share the most powerful examples in a future newsletter.Read as well as see even more: second acts Apply to the Most Cutting-edge Business Honors as well as be actually realized as an institution steering the globe forward through innovation. Early-rate due date: Friday, August 23.