What I miss most from work….

…… Is the people. I’m mostly retired, and I’m loving it. I don’t miss the commute, the work, the late nights, the stress of numbers, making my numbers, the people problems, going after new business, completing a project, helping customers solve problems, or solving the challenges of business. What I miss is the people. The good people. The ones you loved, the ones you solved the problems with, the ones in the trenches with you, the ones you worked with to tell the story of the numbers.

I’ve had the great good fortune to work with a lot of wonderful people over the course of my life, both in the Army, and in the civilian world. I know it’s obvious, but when you work with good people, it makes everything else easier, and it also makes it more productive, and more fun. In the Army, we use to say “Mission first, people always”. At the couple of companies I worked for, I always tried to make taking care of people a “core value”. It seems so simple, but so many people don’t understand it.

I had the chance to have a lunch with a couple of those people this week. It had been awhile, and it was great to catch up. We talked about the old days, and about the issues they are dealing with, and solving today. I don’t miss the game, but I dearly miss working with both of them at different times in my career. They made it fun to go to work in the morning, to solve problems, to confront the issues, to commiserate about the craziness around us at various times.

I’m back at the farm now, and they are back in their offices. I know they are doing good work, because that is what they do. I’ll enjoy my life here, and the things Cathy and I are doing, but I miss them, and watching them make a difference.