.Hi and invited to Modern CEO! I am actually Stephanie Mehta, chief executive officer as well as primary content policeman of Mansueto Ventures. Every week this e-newsletter explores inclusive strategies to management reasoned conversations with executives and also entrepreneurs, and coming from the webpages of Inc. and also Swift Company. If you got this email list coming from a good friend, you may sign up to receive it yourself every Monday morning.Being a CEO these days is hard: Tensions consist of fulfilling investors, managing increasing costs and also addressing recurring supply-chain issues, and creating terrific offices. However, for a lot of execs, being actually an ex-CEO shows its personal set of problems. Some battle to cope with the reduction of the benefits and also standing that feature the job, while others really feel required to observe the well-trodden pathway to exclusive equity or corporate panels." Each year, countless execs retire from lengthy and also productive corporate jobs. But handful of are actually gotten ready for the experience they are about to embark on," previous Outpost Communications chief executive officer Maggie Wilderotter stated earlier this year in a Harvard Organization Evaluation essay, penciled along with career trainer Rick Smith and also headhunter Dennis Carey.Life past MicrosoftOne former business big shot that seems to have actually discovered his ground is former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers basketball staff for $2 billion in 2014 and simply revealed the group's brand-new home, the Intuit Dome. (Quick Company calls it "Steve Ballmer's $ 2 billion play area for LA Clippers fans.") The crew and also sector have given Ballmer a sense of purpose that has, in some ways, overshadowed his knowledge at the tech titan. "I've worked with a considerable amount of items over the course of my profession at Microsoft, and also I have actually enjoyed all of them all," Ballmer informed me during a meeting this month at Intuit Dome facing a viewers that included participants of the Young Presidents' Association as well as construction employees who aided create the center and also their loved ones. "However ... in the advancement of the property, I perhaps had a more clear sight of what I wished to perform, as well as I possess the most satisfaction, certainly not even if it thrived, yet [due to the fact that] it's an investment in the area, as well." Intuit Dome has actually significantly been actually an enthusiasm task for Ballmer, who found to guarantee that all supporters have a fee adventure. Every chair is actually created along with effortless accessibility to deals as well as washrooms, phone demanding capacities, as well as substantial leg area, irrespective of ticket price.Ballmer's substantial assets are settling. The Clippers gained 51 activities in the 2023-2024 period, as well as ended up 4th in the NBA Western Conference. (The Dallas Mavericks dealt with the group coming from the playoffs.) As well as Ballmer routinely ranks as being one of the best NBA owners in enthusiast polls.He is actually an extremely unlikely role model for post-CEO lifestyle. His retirement from Microsoft in 2014 after 34 years at the company and also thirteen years as CEO was emotional as well as filled. Though incomes almost tripled during the course of his tenure, the assets generally stood still, and also the firm missed out on the option to come to be a gamer in cell phones as well as web solutions. Under pressure coming from the provider's panel, Ballmer found to remodel the company before ultimately deciding he was certainly not the best individual to relocate Microsoft ahead. A press reporter who chronicled his parting coming from Microsoft defined him as "incredibly depressing to leave behind the business." CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, reinventedPart of what helps make Ballmer a second-act success tale is actually that he really did not try to recreate his company life. Instead, he took a possibility to obtain the Clippers after previous co-owner Donald Sterling was outlawed from operating the group or even connecting with the NBA. "Having excessive selections may lead to decision fatigue, changing to default choices, or maybe staying away from making a decision altogether," Wilderotter and her co-authors point out, recommending ex-CEOs to as an alternative redefine their objective or identity. (Ballmer is actually also owner of USAFacts, a detached information business.) Bill George, the past Medtronic chief executive officer who recast themself as a management guru after retirement life, has actually stated that the previous CEOs that flourish are the ones who find methods "to produce or nurture points that are going to outlast them." Throughout our meeting at the field, Ballmer resembled this conviction. "A person told me when, 'No person ever before definitely owns a baseball staff. You handle it. You shepherd it, and also you bring it along,'" he mentions. "Intuit Dome may be a little bit of what I perform to shepherd this crew throughout. Given that it is actually had due to the fans in the end of the time, and also our company merely deal with it." Are you an one-time CEO in a second act?Are you a past chief executive officer who possesses discovered reason in your second act? How did you handle locating your new identification? Deliver your knowledge and also narratives to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I'll share the absolute most compelling instances in a future newsletter.Read as well as watch much more: 2nd actions Relate to the Most Impressive Companies Honors and also be actually identified as an organization steering the planet onward by means of development. Early-rate deadline: Friday, August 23.