The future of media is bright. So bright that I decided to launch a new entrepreneurial media venture called Big Swing Media. There isn’t much optimism in media these days, especially from those of us in our fifties who have worked in the industry for decades. So why am I so sunny about the business? … Continue reading Taking A Big Swing
peak years
Fathers, Sons and Heroes
I had a birthday recently, which always makes me think of my dad. This isn’t unusual, birthdays cause many people to think of their parents. Although in my case there is a more uncommon connection: my dad and I shared a birthday. On the day I was born he turned 49. I used to joke … Continue reading Fathers, Sons and Heroes
Which Way Are You Running?
Maybe it’s the commute. Or the job. Or the boss. Or the company you work for. It happens to those close to retirement and young executives unhappy with their current roles. No matter the issue or where you are in your career, at some point all of us feel the urge to run away from … Continue reading Which Way Are You Running?
What Did You Do This Week?
This simple question has caused quite an uproar recently. It’s a common question for those of us who like to spend part of our Sundays preparing for the upcoming week. Of course, the controversy isn’t about the question itself, but the manner in which it was asked. Normally employers don’t coldcock their employees with a … Continue reading What Did You Do This Week?
The Reason to Work Past the Number
What’s your number? If you’ve done even the most basic financial planning, you’ve got a number–the amount of savings needed to retire. For many people, that number represents the finish line and the primary motivation for working. And once that line is crossed, retirement quickly follows. However, not everyone stops working once they’ve attained financial … Continue reading The Reason to Work Past the Number
Coming Clean
Sunday is a good day to talk about coming clean. Owning up to our mistakes is core to many religious faiths. Judaism sets aside a day each year, Yom Kippur, for it. Catholics are expected to go to confession at least once a year. This idea that “confession is good for the soul” extends far … Continue reading Coming Clean
The Ones That Got Away
During the Super Bowl, Tom Brady made an intriguing revelation. With the Eagles cruising in the second half and the outcome no longer in doubt, Brady reflected on how he processed losing Super Bowls. He admitted to dwelling much more on his three Super Bowl losses than on his seven victories. As a long-suffering Giants … Continue reading The Ones That Got Away
Practicing Silence
Sunday is a good day to talk about silence. Not the kind we experience in our sleep, but a waking silence. It’s hard to come by these days, usually because we are never truly alone in our digital “always-on” world. The buzzes and bells of alerts and notifications constantly interrupt and command our attention. Yet, … Continue reading Practicing Silence
Where do you find inspiration?
I started experimenting on TikTok a few months ago. Mostly because it's a great platform for promoting books. I've got a long way to go and a lot to learn, but it's a fun process. If you're on TikTok, I'd love it if you follow me. You can find me @fredbucherbooks. Every once in a … Continue reading Where do you find inspiration?
Celebrating the Little Wins
LinkedIn is an awesome place to celebrate the big wins - the new job, the promotion. But what about the little wins? I had one this week in my fiction writing. To be honest I haven't always been good at recognizing the importance of little wins. Here's a quick video I made for LinkedIn today … Continue reading Celebrating the Little Wins
Riding Wild Horses
Every artist has their muse. One of the legendary muses in rock history died last week. Marianne Faithfull lived a colorful life – pop star, model, actress, addiction survivor. For all her experiences and accomplishments, she’s probably best known for her intense (and very public) relationship with Mick Jagger in the 1960s. Legend has it … Continue reading Riding Wild Horses
The Road to Forgiveness
Sunday is a good day to talk about forgiveness. Walk into any church on Sunday and you’ll get an earful about forgiveness. It cuts right to the heart of religious faith. The reassurance that there is a God who knows us better than we know ourselves and never fails to forgive no matter the offense … Continue reading The Road to Forgiveness
Sorry, Not Sorry
For a Peak Years Friday bonus I thought I'd share a fun little video I made for LinkedIn about our cultural epidemic of non-apology apologies. Hope you enjoy it. Feedback always welcome. Speaking of apologies, watch for my post this Sunday about forgiveness. Have a great weekend.
TikTok and the Real Dangers of Social Media
I’m all for the TikTok ban. To be clear, I have nothing against it. I use it myself. However, allowing a hostile foreign power to own and control the dominant media platform used by America’s youth presents an obvious national security threat. It’s the same reason why foreign individuals or companies are forbidden to own … Continue reading TikTok and the Real Dangers of Social Media
Gratitude: The Essential Career Practice
Sunday is a good day to talk about gratitude. For the religious, setting aside one day a week to rest and give thanks is foundational. However, you don’t have to be a person of faith to relate to the idea of regularly scheduled gratitude. A need to give and receive thanks is hard wired into … Continue reading Gratitude: The Essential Career Practice
Taking Time to Celebrate 32
This is what thirty-two looks like. For a long time, a significant part of our lives revolved around that number. Why thirty-two? To complete a bachelor’s degree generally (but far from always) requires four years of college or eight semesters. That’s eight tuition payments. (I’m defining tuition broadly to include room, board, and all other … Continue reading Taking Time to Celebrate 32
Confidence and Humility
Sunday is a good day to talk about humility. It’s a timeless virtue that feels out of step with the times. Attention is the name of the game these days. Politicians, athletes, entertainers, influencers, and brands crave and trade on it. The social media platforms that consume so much of our time harness and profit handsomely from it. … Continue reading Confidence and Humility
A Matter of Faith
Sunday is a good day to talk about faith. How much faith do you have and in what do you place it? Raising questions of faith on a Sunday naturally evokes religion. It’s not a topic most people like to discuss in the context of work, but all of us have faith in something: ourselves, … Continue reading A Matter of Faith
A Requiem for Venu
For a brief moment last week Venu had new life. But then Disney, Fox and WBD hammered the final nail in the coffin and buried it for good. According to reports, the threat of continued litigation from DirecTV and Dish was too big a risk for Venu’s founding partners. They feared that if the satellite … Continue reading A Requiem for Venu
Circle of Life – When A Parent Needs Help
Sunday is a good day to talk about circle of life moments. Growing older and hitting our peak years brings many opportunities, but it also brings its share of challenges. Caring for aging, declining parents is a big one. We’ve had a bit of that in our family recently, including this week. Fortunately everyone is fine, but it … Continue reading Circle of Life – When A Parent Needs Help
The Right Way To Worry
One of the wonders of this time of year is we experience a calendarized, culture-wide commitment to wiping the slate clean and beginning anew. But for many media execs and marketers, particularly those in their peak years, the good cheer of the holidays is quickly being replaced by worries and anxieties about the future. It’s … Continue reading The Right Way To Worry
The Two Best Ways To Spend Your Time
A quick Peak Years riff on the value of time before we head into the weekend. Time, as everyone knows, is our most precious asset. We pay nothing for it, but it isn’t free. None of us knows how much of it we have. And we can’t make more. Therefore, the choice of how to … Continue reading The Two Best Ways To Spend Your Time
The Seven Steps To Finding A Job In Sports
“Hey Fred, would you mind talking with my ______, (insert son, daughter, niece, cousin, next door neighbor’s kid, etc). They want to get into the sports business?” Like many friends and colleagues in the business, I’ve been asked this question more times than I can remember. Make no mistake, this is not a complaint. I … Continue reading The Seven Steps To Finding A Job In Sports
Be Indifferent
Forget passion. What all of us could use at work is more indifference. I realize in many quarters such a notion is career blasphemy. Coaches, educators and pretty much everybody who likes to blog, post or pontificate about building a career says the key to professional happiness and success is finding work that ignites our … Continue reading Be Indifferent
Worn In Good
It’s your favorite chair or a spot on the couch. It's your trusty, old baseball glove. If you like to cook, it could be your old cutting board or cast-iron pan. In the Fall, it’s a well-worn pair of jeans or, in my case, an increasingly frayed but still unbelievably comfortable pair of NY Giants … Continue reading Worn In Good
The Blank Page
The blank page. Where every project and creative endeavor starts. A symbol of hope, endless possibilities, and abject terror. I felt all those things when I sat down in front of the computer this week to start my third novel. After spending the past few months casually noodling an idea for a murder mystery set … Continue reading The Blank Page
Woj – A Peak Years Role Model
(Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) I wanted to give a quick shout out to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. He's a Peak Years role model. After a stellar career in journalism and while still at the top of his profession, in his mid 50s he walks away from ESPN and millions of dollars to pursue … Continue reading Woj – A Peak Years Role Model
The Only Way Out Is Through
Readers of this blog know that I’m a firm believer that the peak years of our lives can be our best years. But there’s no denying they can be challenging times as well. As my mom reminds me, “sometimes getting old sucks, but it beats the alternative.” One of the most rewarding parts of writing … Continue reading The Only Way Out Is Through
It’s Supposed To Hurt
No pain, no gain. Embrace the burn. Take the hard way. Rise and grind. Just do it. These pithy mantras and urgent admonitions permeate the worlds of sports and fitness. They’re everywhere: posters, tattoos, memes and ads. Coaches and trainers swear by them. Athletes of all levels, from the pros to the weekend warrior, breathlessly … Continue reading It’s Supposed To Hurt
Goals Are Cheap
Everybody has goals. I do. I’m sure you do as well. Having a clear set of goals is Career/Life Coach 101 stuff. Chapter 1 of every self-improvement book ever written. We’re told that it’s important to write them down. Even better, we should go one step further and visualize what achieving our goals will look … Continue reading Goals Are Cheap
The Most Important Day of Your Life
Ask a random person to identify the most important day of their life and you’ll probably hear things like the day they were born, the day they met their significant other, their wedding day, the birth of their child; any of the major milestone days of our lives. Unless the person has a major life … Continue reading The Most Important Day of Your Life
Sprint to the Finish
She said it almost every day during the transition: “I’m going to sprint to the finish.” The company we worked for, Time Warner Cable, was in the midst of being absorbed by Charter Communications. A number of my colleagues were looking forward to the close of the transaction so they could take their packages and … Continue reading Sprint to the Finish
Will There Be Enough?
Will there be enough? Maybe we don’t use those exact words, but that is THE question all of us ask ourselves at some point, perhaps many times, during our lives. The question can apply to the basic essentials: food, water, clothing, and shelter. Sadly, way too many people around the world are forced to confront … Continue reading Will There Be Enough?