.Hi and welcome to Modern CEO! I'm Stephanie Mehta, chief executive officer as well as main material officer of Mansueto Ventures. Weekly this e-newsletter discovers broad strategies to management reasoned talks with executives and business people, as well as coming from the web pages of Inc. and Fast Business. If you got this email list coming from a buddy, you may enroll to obtain it yourself every Monday morning.Being a chief executive officer in these times is tough: Stress include delighting investors, handling climbing prices and solving recurring supply-chain issues, as well as creating terrific work environments. But for numerous execs, being actually an ex-CEO presents its very own collection of challenges. Some battle to deal with the loss of the benefits as well as status that feature the work, while others experience obliged to comply with the well-trodden course to personal equity or even business boards." Each year, thousands of execs relinquish long as well as prosperous company jobs. However handful of are organized the adventure they will plunge into," former Outpost Communications CEO Maggie Wilderotter declared previously this year in a Harvard Company Review essay, penciled with occupation train Rick Johnson as well as talent scout Dennis Carey.Life beyond MicrosoftOne former business chieftain who appears to have actually located his ground is actually former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers baseball team for $2 billion in 2014 and also merely introduced the group's brand-new home, the Intuit Dome. (Prompt Firm calls it "Steve Ballmer's $ 2 billion play area for LA Clippers fans.") The staff and also field have provided Ballmer a sense of reason that has, somehow, darkened his expertises at the technician titan. "I have actually focused on a ton of products throughout my job at Microsoft, and also I've enjoyed them all," Ballmer told me during a job interview this month at Intuit Dome facing an audience that featured participants of the Young Presidents' Association as well as building and construction employees that helped build the location as well as their loved ones. "However ... in the development of the building, I perhaps possessed a more clear sight of what I wished to do, as well as I have the best complete satisfaction, certainly not just because it thrived, yet [since] it's an assets in the community, also." Intuit Dome has actually quite been an enthusiasm project for Ballmer, that sought to ensure that all supporters have a fee knowledge. Every seat is made with effortless accessibility to giving ins and bathrooms, phone demanding abilities, and also ample lower leg room, regardless of ticket price.Ballmer's sizable financial investments are paying off. The Clippers succeeded 51 games in the 2023-2024 period, as well as finished 4th in the NBA Western Conference. (The Dallas Mavericks eliminated the crew coming from the playoffs.) And also Ballmer repeatedly ranks being one of the top NBA managers in supporter polls.He is actually a not likely shining example for post-CEO lifestyle. His retirement life from Microsoft in 2014 after 34 years at the company and 13 years as CEO was psychological and also tangled up. Though incomes virtually tripled during his period, the equity basically stagnated, as well as the firm missed out on the option to come to be a player in smart phones as well as web solutions. Under pressure from the business's panel, Ballmer found to remodel the company just before inevitably deciding he was certainly not the most effective individual to relocate Microsoft onward. A media reporter that recorded his retirement coming from Microsoft described him as "very sad to leave behind the business." CEO, reinventedPart of what produces Ballmer a second-act effectiveness account is that he really did not attempt to reproduce his company lifestyle. Rather, he took possession of an option to obtain the Clippers after previous co-owner Donald Sterling was actually outlawed coming from running the staff or linking with the NBA. "Having too many selections may bring about choice tiredness, returning to fail possibilities, or maybe staying away from making a decision altogether," Wilderotter and her co-authors mention, encouraging ex-CEOs to rather redefine their function or identification. (Ballmer is actually likewise founder of USAFacts, a detached information provider.) Costs George, the past Medtronic CEO that recast himself as a leadership authority after retirement, has mentioned that the former Chief executive officers that grow are actually the ones that find techniques "to develop or even nurture factors that are going to outlast all of them." During our job interview at the arena, Ballmer resembled this view. "Somebody told me when, 'No one ever truly possesses a basketball team. You deal with it. You shepherd it, and you take it along,'" he says. "Intuit Dome could be a little bit of what I perform to shepherd this team throughout. Given that it's possessed due to the supporters by the end of the day, and also our company simply take care of it." Are you a single CEO in a second act?Are you a former chief executive officer who possesses found purpose in your 2nd act? Just how performed you set about discovering your brand-new identity? Send your insights and also anecdotes to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I'll discuss the most compelling instances in a future newsletter.Read and watch a lot more: 2nd acts Apply to the Most Innovative Companies Awards and also be realized as an institution steering the world onward with advancement. Early-rate due date: Friday, August 23.