One by one the University of Chicago MBAs lined up to meet the older man who accompanied the young female Goldman FX trader who was a Chicago alumna and attending the MBA School’s Career Opportunity Day.
Each eager.
Each polished.
Each armed with credentials.
“Pleasure to meet you,”
“My name is Greg.”
“George.”
“Ahmed.”
They shook his hand, leaned in, and tried to impress him.
The man smiled politely and replied, in a thick Greek accent:
“My name is Tom.”
Then they kept talking.
Explaining their backgrounds. Their ambitions. Their future plans.
Trying to bend his ear for just one minute.
The FX alumna watched this unfold with quiet amusement.
Eventually, she stepped in and rescued the older gentleman, steering the group back toward her and the table where she was sharing information about Goldman opportunities in London.
It was the late 1990s.
What none of those very smart MBA students realised was this:
The older man wasn’t a partner.
He wasn’t an executive.
He didn’t work for Goldman at all.
He was a licensed City of Chicago taxi driver, doing what he had to do to make ends meet until he could regain his role at Olympic Airways’ Chicago office.
He was the FX trader’s father.
And he was mine.
Today is his birthday.
And nearly the one-year anniversary of his death.
Here’s the important part.
My father wasn’t pretending.
He never said he worked at Goldman.
He never implied he was anything other than who he was.
But in the students’ minds, an older man in a suit standing beside a young female trader had to be her boss.
And if he was her boss, he had to be important.
So they filled in the blanks themselves.
They believed what they wanted to believe.
And that’s the lesson.
We delude ourselves far more easily than we like to admit.
We want to believe that this AI tool, that guru, this framework, or that silver bullet is the thing that will finally fix everything.
Because believing that is comforting.
And far easier than doing the slower, less glamorous work that actually changes outcomes.
Those MBA students didn’t get anything from that encounter.
No insight.
No advantage.
No opportunity.
Just a good story they never realised they were part of.
And I see the same thing play out in business every day.
People prostrating themselves before expensive toys, loud promises, and shiny shortcuts—
only to end up with the same results.
If you’re tired of that cycle, this next part matters.
Fall in Love with Your Business Again is not a magic solution.
It’s not a shortcut.
And it’s not a silver bullet.
It’s a common-sense framework built on fundamentals that actually work—
to help you turn the energy and money you pour into your business into an asset that supports your life, not consumes it.
So you can live the life you want today.
And still have the option to pass the business down or exit it on your terms when the time is right.
The program is still being developed, but the pre-launch announcement list is open.
Those on it will be the first to know—and the first invited.
Sign up here to add your name.
———–
P.S. I’m not the “systems,” “finance,” or “fix your processes” guy.
I help you fall in love with your business again—Because it finally gives you the life you want today
While setting you up to exit on your terms tomorrow.
Join my list for blunt insights and practical strategies to build a business that gives you your life back – and the power to walk away, when you’re ready, on your terms