Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Bob Buford is an entrepreneur who in the first half of life grew a successful cable television company. In his second half, Buford founded the Halftime Institute, an organization designed to teach, coach, and connect marketplace leaders to discover God’s calling in their lives. He also started Leadership Network, an organization that seeks to accelerate the emergence of effective churches by identifying, connecting, and resourcing innovative church leaders. For outstanding stories, great resources, events, and program information to help you on your Halftime journey, please visit www.halftimeinstitute.org.

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Finishing Well

Zondervan

Contents

Foreword by Ken Blanchard............................................................................XIIntroduction: Life II................................................................................XIIIChapter One: Let's Do Lunch..........................................................................1Chapter Two: Is There Something More?................................................................9Chapter Three: It's about Redefining What Makes You Get Up in the Morning............................25Chapter Four: It's about Finding Your Core...........................................................39Chapter Five: It's Been In Your Life a Long, Long Time...............................................51Chapter Seven: It's About Relationships and Priorities...............................................79Chapter Eight: It's About Family First...............................................................93Chapter Nine: It's About Saying No...................................................................105Chapter Ten: It's About Giving and Receiving a Blessing..............................................117Chapter Eleven: It's About The Power Of New Purpose..................................................129Chapter Twelve: It's About Repositioning—The Central Halftime Skill............................145Chapter Thirteen: It's About Finding (or creating) the Right Context.................................159Chapter Fourteen: It's About Putting Yourself at Risk................................................171Chapter Fifteen: It's about Finding The Right Fit....................................................185Chapter Sixteen: The Way Out Is Through..............................................................199Chapter Seventeen: It's about Staying the Course.....................................................215Chapter Eighteen: It's about Running through the Tape................................................229Chapter Nineteen: Finishing Well.....................................................................245Appendix 1: Cast of Protagonists.....................................................................255Appendix 2: The Consequences of Inertia..............................................................273Appendix 3: Ten Principles for Life II—Peter Drucker...........................................279Appendix 4: The John 17 Prayer.......................................................................285Endnotes.............................................................................................289Additional Resources.................................................................................293Acknowledgments......................................................................................295

Chapter One

Visualize this. You and I are having lunch at your favorite place. It's comfortable, a good place for going to talk. You've come to a point in your life where you're asking, What now? What's next? You feel a new season in the air. I've invited a wise friend who seems to have some answers to the questions you've been asking, someone who seems to be ahead of us in this season I call Life II.

Certainly, all of the hundred-plus interviews I did for this book weren't over lunch, but it's a good way to think of the conversations you will find in these pages. Organic, personal, each one unique. We're in the company of wise and caring friends talking about things that matter. I followed whatever paths our conversations led us down, and I listened to what was said.

Lesson one: Just listen.

Today I've invited Tom Luce because he's a friend, a wise counselor, and someone whose own life models many of the lessons we seek to learn. Many of the themes we'll explore in this book are present in this one particular interview, so it's a good place to start.

Lunch with a Wise Friend

Tom Luce had just wrapped up a long session working on public education issues when we spoke. He had been in a conference room full of people who were helping an eighty-five-year-old client from West Texas decide how to deploy his resources. Tom's a superachiever, passionate about public education, and knee-deep in a program to help fix it.

Tom's faith and the biblically oriented class he's attended faithfully for more than thirty years are at the center of his motivation to give his life to public service. But the choice hasn't always been easy: Tom also has medical conditions that cause him to live with continual pain and prevent him from getting a good night's sleep. But he refuses to let such things impede his work.

As we sat down, I asked Tom to tell me what parts of his life's work had given him the most satisfaction.

"When I started the law firm," he said, "my goal was to build an institution that would outlast me. From the very beginning, my goal was to build something strong enough to survive my departure, and doing that allowed me to be free, because I knew I could step down without regrets when the time came. I could leave because I'd know I'd accomplished my goals, and others would take it from there.

"The other thing that I feel good about," he said, "is the wonderful friendships I've developed over the years. God gave me the ability to be a good counselor, to put myself in the clients' shoes, and that has led to many rewarding relationships." Friendships are important to Tom. He and I have known each other for fifteen years.

"Tom, I know how much these friendships mean to you," I said, "but obviously you also have a passion for a variety of projects. For example, you were the key guy in implementing billion-dollar-plus mergers, bringing a Magna Carta to this country, and building a nationally recognized law firm."

"Yes," he said, "all of that was very satisfying to me, and being able to step out of my normal role in situations like that has made practicing law even more of a pleasure. But the real reason I'm drawn to institution building, Bob, is that I never really had a burning desire to be a lawyer. My first interest was always business, and I never really intended to practice law. If I hadn't gone into law, more than likely I would have been an entrepreneur, a builder of businesses. That's where my gifts are, but as it turned out, I took those skills and applied them to other things."

"Most of us have different seasons in life," I said. "Our passions change. Was there a point at which you felt the law firm was becoming more institutional than entrepreneurial?"

"It was entrepreneurial for a number of years," he said. "We worked very hard at establishing our practice and acquiring clients, but I never wanted to be a managing partner, even though I was for many years. I felt that job demanded different skills, and I was more of an entrepreneur, not an institution runner. I wanted to use my entrepreneurial gifts, so turning the job of managing partner over to someone else was an easy step for me."

"Was there a halftime period?" I asked. "Did you come to a point when you felt you'd been there and done that? Or did you decide there was still more to do?"

"I think it was a little of both," he said. "I reached halftime in '88 or '89, when I decided to run for governor. I'd built a law firm and achieved some success, and I felt that the political arena might be the best way to make the move to significance."

"Running for governor turned out to...