Bob P. Buford - Finishing Well: The Adventure of Life Beyond Halftime

The Adventure of Life Beyond Halftime

Foreward by Ken Blanchard

Tom Luce: Law Firm Founder, Education Reformer

Dallas Willard: Philosophy Professor, Author

Wally Hawley: Venture Capitalist

Jay Bennett: Law Partner, Foundation Founder

Laura Nash: Harvard Research Fellow, Business Consultant

John Castle: Law Partner, Corporate Executive

Jeff Heller: EDS President, Foundation Trustee

Wilson Goode: Former Philadelphia Mayor, Youth Mentor

Peter Drucker: Management Expert, Teacher, Author

Dan Sullivan: Founder and CEO of The Strategic Coach

Don Williams: CEO of Trammell Crow, Urban Renewal Innovator

Dr. Kenneth Cooper: Pioneer in Preventive Medicine and Fitness, Author

Steve Reinemund: Chairman of PepsiCo, Salvation Army Board Chairman

Margie Blanchard: Futurist, Speaker, Management Trainer

Ken Blanchard: Coauthor of One Minute Manager, Management Trainer

Dr. Armand Nicholi: Author, Psychiatrist, Harvard Medical School Professor

Dick DeVos: President of Amway, Education Reformer

George Gallup: Public Opinion Researcher

John Findley: Corporate Executive, Foundation Founder

Tom Wilson: CEO of Leadership Network

Tom Tierney: CEO of Bain & Co., Nonprofit Consultant

Hamilton Jordan: Former White House Chief of Staff, Author, Entrepreneur

Merle Smith: Entrepreneur, Mentor

Earl Palmer: Pastor, Author, Conference Speaker

Howard Hendricks: Professor, Speaker, Author

John Snyder: Founder of Snyder Oil Company

Michael Kami: Strategic Planning Consultant,Writer, Lecturer

Ali Hanna: Nuclear Physicist, McKinsey Executive, Alpha Cofounder

Randy Best: Venture Capitalist, Education Reformer

Vester Hughes: Law-Firm Founder

Larry Allums: Institute CEO, Professor, Editor

Roger Staubach: Former Dallas Cowboys Quarterback, Real Estate

Bill Solomon: CEO of Austin Industries, Civic Leader

Dr. Pat Thomas: Surgeon, Hospital Executive

Jim Collins: Author

Rudy Rasmus: Inner-city Pastor, Benevolence Administrator

Millard Fuller: Founder of Habitat for Humanity, Inc.

Bob Roberts: Pastor, International Church Planter

Tom McGehee: Collaborative Process Pioneer

Mike Shields:Wall Street Manager, Halftime Executive

Joe Miraglia: Senior VP of Human Resources for Motorola, Life Planning Consultant

Lloyd Reeb: Real Estate, Halftime Executive

John Leffin: Accenture, Halftime Executive

Byron Davis: President of Fisher-Price, Leadership Consultant

Mike Ullman: International Corporate Executive, Chairman of Mercy Ships

Cathey Brown: Founder of Rainbow Days

Denis Beausejour: Head of Marketing of P&G

Jeff Small: Ameritech,Willow Creek Community Church

Dr. Donald Seldin: Medical Educator, Researcher, Scholar

Stephen L. Clapp: Dean of the Juilliard School

Ralph Kirshbaum: Performing Cellist,Music Teacher

Lawrence Dutton: Performing Violist, Emerson String Quartet

James Surls: Award-winning Sculptor

John Russell: Sports Photographer

Clark Esser: Building Contractor

Caroline Hunt: Rosewood Hotels, Lady Primrose Toiletries

Bill Pollard: Chairman of ServiceMasters, Business Ethicist

Frances Hesselbein: President of Girl Scouts, Nonprofit Institute Founder

Boone Pickens: Oil Executive, Philanthropist

Os Guinness: Writer, Speaker, Trinity Forum

For years I have been asking people, Would you like the world to be a better place for your having been here? Everyone is quick to say, Yes! But when I ask them, Whats your plan? they smile and laugh, because they dont have a clue. As Bob Buford found in his research for his book Halftime, most people, as they approach the magic ages of forty-five or fifty, would like to move from success to significance. They want to move from a time in their lives when they felt they had to prove themselveswhat Bob calls in this book Life Ito a time when they can give back and make a differencewhat Bob calls Life II. Life I is what happens before halftime and Life II is what comes afterward.

As Bob found in writing Stuck in Halftime, many of us dont know how to make the transition from Life I to Life IIfrom success to significance. Without a strategy or role models, we often get drawn back into Life I. I dont have to look far for an example.

When Bob first asked me if I would write the foreword to Finishing Well, I was reluctant. After all, Peter Drucker had written the foreword to Halftime and Stuck in Halftime, and Peter Drucker is my guru as a management thinker. Hes forgotten more than most people ever knew. Add to that the fact that Bob thinks Peter is the wisest man alive. How could I ever write a foreword that could match words of wisdom from Peter Drucker? When I realized what was happening, I had to laugh. Here I was in a ridiculous competition reminiscent of Life I, concerned about proving myself.

How do we keep from reverting back to old ways and stay on Life IIs path to significance? The answers are in this book. Bob went on an interview odyssey. He talked to 120 exceptional peoplefolks he called code breakers who were venturing into the Life II frontier and shouting back learnings. About half of those people are quoted in this book, including me.

After grappling with this foreword, I suggested that Bob take me out of the book itself. He refused. I guess he feels that sometimes the best way to learn is to teach. And did I ever learn from reading this book! I think you will too. Youll discover a pearl of wisdom on every page. Life II is uncharted territory. In the past most people thought you retired and then died. Thats no longer a given today. We have choices weve never had before. In many ways we can make the best of our life the rest of our life. Enjoy! Thanks again, Bob, for challenging our thinking and way of being.

Ken Blanchard

Coauthor of The One Minute Manager and The Servant Leader

T HE STRONGEST INSIGHT YOU HAD IN Halftime WAS THAT THERE IS MORE THAN ONE LIFETIME .

P ETER F. D RUCKER

I HAVE RECEIVED A SECOND LIFE!

S HAKESPEARE, The Tempest

This is a book about a life that didnt used to exist. Its what I call Life II.

Odds are, youll live a whole adult lifetime that wasnt available to your parents and grandparents. Their life expectancy at birth was fifty years. We have two lifetimes now. Life I is what occurs before halftime, and Life II comes afterward. Most people have a pretty good plan for Life I, but few can see their way forward into Life II. Life I has a multitude of clear role models and consists of fairly simple steps. You grow up somewhere, go to school somewhere, form your own family, and go to work somewhere. Then you retire and you ___________________. (You fill in the blank.)

Halftime is the in-between season that occurs at about age forty-five, plus or minus a few years, the time I described in my first book. Its the season of now what? In our time, halftime really marks the end of Life I and the beginning of a whole new second adult season that Ive identified as Life II. Halftime used to be the beginning of the end. Now it is the beginning of a whole new beginninga season that for me and many others has turned out to be the richest and most meaning-filled season of all.