Some compare life to a marathon. You maintain a steady pace and grind out the miles without stopping until the finish.
That’s one way to look at it. But with all due respect to marathoners, if we’re going to stick with the running metaphor I prefer to think of life as a series sprints. Sprints are much more exciting. Who wouldn’t rather watch the 100 meter finals versus the marathon at the Olympics?
The rapid burst of energy and acceleration; maximum effort to achieving your goal. It’s thrilling to watch and even more thrilling to do. And once the sprint is over you take time to recover before entering the starting blocks once again.
A sprint/rest pattern in life is more appealing to me than one, long extended grind of the marathon.
It’s in that spirit I wanted to share that I just completed my most recent “career sprint” at Charter/Spectrum Reach and I now plan to take a much needed breather.
7.5 years seems like a rather long sprint, but the time passed quickly. Building a group and functions that didn’t exist at TWC Media, keeping the team focused through an 18 month aborted merger process, helping bring together three companies following the Charter acquisition, relaunching two brands, ground breaking product launches, winning new customers…it was a tremendous ride.
The typical CMO lasts less than 3 years, so I’m enormously proud of my tenure and what our team accomplished together. We did great work, delivered outstanding results and built something that didn’t exist previously in our industry. Ultimately though for me the people are more important than any specific successes. I’m most grateful for the opportunity to work with so many great people and make lasting friendships.
I plan to use this breather to spend time with my family, catch up with friends, dedicate more time to charitable causes in my community, travel and write. I will publish more frequently here in my “For What It’s Worth” blog on fredbucher.com and invite you to follow me.
Before long I will be ready for the next sprint. There are more races to run.
I look forward to reconnecting with you during my breather. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. More to come…
Fred Bucher 
Fred…congrats on your “Breather”. Sound very refreshing and one that I know is well deserved. Would love to chat about what is next for you but more than that,it’d be good to catch up.
Hope to talk soon.
Robert Miller (formally 54 Sports)
Thanks Robert, much appreciated. Would be great to catch up. Will reach out in next few days. Hope all is well with you.
FB
So happy for you! That lucky family will enjoy having you around so much more. It was great spending time with you and your wife in the Dominican Republic. Now go back to Prague!
Thanks so much Laura. Enjoyed spending time with you as well. Hope our paths cross again soon. All the best.
Enjoy the break Fred – you’ve certainly earned it!
Turns out I’ll be leaving TEGNA next month when my group consolidates with Meredith Conte’s B2C marketing org…but Liz will still be here in Dallas, now in the pilot’s seat. Let’s connect during our respective searches!
Fred, thanks for the update. Happy to help anyway I can. Let’s talk soon.
FB
It was a pleasure crossing paths Fred. I gained some valuable knowledge and advice from our reach your potential project. Thanks for the inspiration. I wish you the best on your new career sprint.
Thanks Joel, much appreciate. Hopefully our paths cross again soon. All the best.
FB