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Nike CEO John Donahoe went to a vision quest. Here Is What he {}

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He’d worked nonstop for three years in consulting firm Bain and at eBay, serving as CEO in both firms during a portion of the period of time, and wished to determine what to do with the remainder of his life.

Donahoe’s route to personal enlightenment? A yearlong “intelligence excursion ” through which he fulfilled with 50 individuals –most of these around the north of 65–that shared their own thoughts about how to remain vital regardless of the inevitability of Father Time (Donahoe was subsequently 55).

“It had been among the most polluted years of my entire life,” Donahoe mentioned on Fortune’s “Leadership Next” podcast.

The classes Donahoe heard were many. But they may be boiled down to a couple of nuggets that, although the regular fodder of self explanatory novels, are simple to overlook.

“No. 1, mindset ’s all,” Donahoe said. “As we age we get grey hair thinning or hair drops outour lips hurt our backs hurt–you just kind of sense the indicators of aging. I believe all that. Yes, most of us do. However, our brains don’t automatically get old. ”

So, Donahoe said, quoting one of his wisdom-tour advisers, company management writer Jim Collins: “Your 50s along with your 60s and, god willing, your own 70s, are the most inventive and successful years of your lifetime. Since you had the knowledge of your expertise. And you also had the liberty to use that knowledge in which you wish to do it, and also you may do it from support and not from self. ”

The next of Donahoe’s key learnings would be to invest {} time with younger individuals to loosen up their energy. Many of those 50 people he spoke to did this, either through training or volunteering, and felt much better off for this.

“Every time that I hang out in the golf club {} my age, all people do is bitch about how awful our golf swings have been and brag about the sort of red wine we drank the night before,” Donahoe said, quoting a different mentor. “which makes me older. I enjoy being around young folks. ”

And as a parting thought, here’s {} of Donahoe’s Stars: “Discover things in life for that you have liability and now also there ’s outcome. It doesn’t need to be just one large thing, but detect significant things in your own life. ”

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