Good Friday brought a bit of a health scare. In the subsequent two months things, though perhaps more troublesome, have come more or less fully under control as best anyone can tell. Hence there are only a few wee absolute constraints on my daily routine. Nonetheless, the “event” was a wake-up call to pay more attention to the cumulative impact of a schedule and level of continuous intensity, since 1974, that buggers the imagination. (George Clooney’s character in “Up in the Air” is a piker by comparison.)
It was a wake-up call that, with much and often rude urging from friends and associates and family and docs, I’ve decided to tend to. Which in turn alters “the business case” and priorities list at tompeters.com and elsewhere in my personal and professional life. Hence you can expect forthcoming announcements of changes to be made with some dispatch.
I underscore that it’s in no way professional “sayonara.” I am “open for business”—but not as much business. I had an absolutely lovely time giving the Olin lecture at Cornell this past weekend. It was my first speech in two months—my longest hiatus in about 35 years. I realized how much I still love what I do, and just how much more I can appreciate it when the stress of continuous travel and frantic preparation has been dramatically reduced.