A lender flagged that our financials were two months late. When I confronted my CFO, he blamed our ERP. I terminated him and brought in counsel and our accountant. My controller uncovered the truth: The CFO had reclassified costs to inflate profits and trigger a PE-backed bonus. The fraud surfaced when inventory and WIP stopped reconciling. Cleanup took months. He later sued for wrongful termination and the bonus. He lost.

In 1981, a client delayed payment on a major project. Expecting their funds, I didn't pay about $50,000 in federal taxes that quarter. When the project collapsed, I entered an IRS payment plan and paid $25,000 monthly for 20 months. Later, the IRS said I still owed most of the balance — because payments went to penalties and interest first. Lesson: Always write "APPLY PAYMENT TO PRINCIPAL."

In 2016, I found my only brother dead of a heroin overdose. It rocked my world. At that time, I was the sole seller in my business, and my business development activities slowed to a halt after his death. By the beginning of 2017, I was extremely worried about losing the business. My community of CEOs rallied around me. They started introducing me to everyone they knew who could use our services. It was almost miraculous — the kindest and most generous experience I've had as a business leader. I am forever in debt to those wonderful people who rallied around me and supported me.

Staying motivated. My Vistage group really helped with that. Since COVID, I've been working from home five days a week, only getting "dressed for work" when I went to my Vistage meeting and the occasional client visit. My group encouraged me to get out, get dressed, and be on the move more. That was a big help for me.