I turn 48 today.
For most of my life, I haven't thought much about birthdays. Another year, another set of goals, another climb. But this one feels different.
All in, I've spent 18 years at Adobe - leading teams, building things, learning what works and what breaks. It's been good work. Meaningful work. But lately, I've been asking different questions.
Not "What's next on the ladder?" but "What's worth climbing for?"
Not "How do I optimize?" but "Who am I becoming?"
These aren't comfortable questions. They're the kind that sit with you late at night. The kind you don't bring up in Check-Ins with your manager or meetings with your team.
But I've learned something in the last two years of asking them: I'm not the only one.
There are a lot of us - leaders with experience, with responsibility, with track records - who are quietly wondering what the second half holds. We've made a few ascents already. Career. Family. Leadership. And now there's another mountain ahead we didn't see coming.
We're not behind. We're not broken. We're in fieri - in the becoming. That's a phrase I've come to love. It's Latin. It means "in process." Still being formed.
That's where I am. And I suspect it's where you might be too.
So today, on my birthday, I'm launching something new.
Ad Alta - it means "toward the heights." It's what I'm calling this next chapter.
For now, it's a website, a blog, and a free guide: The 5 Questions Before the Climb. Five questions I've been wrestling with. Five questions I think every leader in transition should ask before making the next move.
This isn't about having answers. It's about having clarity before courage.
I don't know exactly what Ad Alta will become. I'm building it in public, in the middle of my own transition, because I think that's more honest than pretending I've figured it all out.
If you're in a similar place - in the valley, at the pass, looking at the next mountain - I'd love for you to join me.
Download the guide. Sign up. Let's figure out the second half together.
Ad Alta. Toward the heights. One step at a time.
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