Publisher's Perspective: March 2022

From Publisher Craig Kaminer:

“I have been amazed by all the stories I have heard during the pandemic of millennials and their friends working remotely in exotic places or renting homes in the mountains or islands. Just when I hear they are finally coming home, a different group of friends or colleagues rents another home from which they can all work and play, and they leave again like nomads.

Equally surprising is the number of people, young and old, leaving their high-profile positions to explore alternatives. They often don’t have anything lined up, but with a strong job market and two years of pandemic stress, they are following their hearts. This Great Resignation, as many are calling it, has surprised me, concerned me, and even made me jealous.

Recently I learned that Kelly Pollock, the executive director of COCA for the last 11 years, who helped the organization become one of the most respected arts organizations of its kind in the country, announced that she would be leaving after 22 years at COCA. As of publication, there has been no word of what she will do next, but I am sure many organizations will line up for the chance to lure her to do for them what she did for COCA. I also heard from Gene Dobbs Bradford that he is leaving Jazz St. Louis – one of the top three jazz performance and education nonprofits in the country – after 23 years, to run the Savannah Music Festival. The Arts and Education Council announced in early February that Cynthia Prost will be stepping away as president and CEO in July after 14 years in that position. Another friend in the marketing world has reorganized her company to be 100% virtual. She is living in a converted Mercedes Sprinter van somewhere out West, working in the morning and paragliding in the afternoon. She says her firm is doing better than ever.

What is it that is motivating so many to re-think their work life, consider leaving something that they have built, and exploring new jobs, new challenges, and even new ways of living?  My sister, who is the quintessential New Yorker, left Manhattan after living there for 58 years and moved to California. After a few months in Los Angeles, she and her husband announced that they had “burned the ships” (a reference to Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who after arriving in the New World in 1519, proclaimed that they would burn their boats never to return home).

Is this a short-term phenomenon or a new way of thinking about our lives? Perhaps it's because we can. Technology has enabled us to meet via Zoom, text, and talk, and even the most intense CEOs have acknowledged that their companies will likely never return 100% to the ways things were before.

 After losing so much, from people we love to the freedoms we so enjoy, I believe more and more people are rethinking what’s important to them. Perhaps it's the result of our accumulated wealth, inheritance, Bitcoin, politics, or the realization that life can change at any minute that has many people (me included) reimagining what’s new and next for themselves.

I fully get it. In 2016 I sold my marketing company so I could pursue things on my bucket list.  My wife and I sailed 10,000 plus miles on a 52 ft. sailboat up and down the Eastern seaboard, living in New England in the summer and the Bahamas, Key West, and Sarasota in the winter. It was heaven, but eventually we sold the boat, returned home, and focused again on reality.

 At the end of 2021, I was diagnosed with 12 arterial blockages in my heart and underwent four-way cardiac bypass surgery just four days before Christmas. While I had been managing coronary artery disease and Type 2 diabetes since 2001, I didn’t see this open heart surgery thing coming and it threw me for a loop. It was the first time I realized that my time may be up, that there might be no next chapter, or that my next adventure may look very different than I had always imagined. The good news is that all went surprisingly well and my heart may be better now than it was just a couple of months ago. But instead of taking off like a nomad, I want to invest more of my time in the community, to write more, to be there for my kids wherever they are, and plan for the fact that we can never really plan.

 So, for my friends and colleagues who are moving on, I wish you only the best and I know you will make a difference whatever you do next. You made your mark here and you will always be remembered for your great work and contributions. However, just as we all think our work and our lives are meaningful to everyone we have touched, the truth is that we are all replaceable and like you, life moves on.

I was reminded of this during my surgery and recovery when so many of you reached out to me and my family: sending flowers, bagels and Nova from New York, vegan meals, chicken soup, four-course dinners, and much more. Now, it's time for me to make the most with my new lease on life; to chase some new dreams, and enjoy every minute. I am not sure there is anything else to live for.”

The Publisher’s Perspective pairs perfectly with the rest of our March/ April issue. Always have your copy of SL on deck by subscribing to SL and signing up for our e-newsletter: https://www.sophisticatedstlouis.com/subscribe