Now, For Something Completely Different – Ian Blair’s World Travels: Seeking Shangri-La

I received an e-mail yesterday from my friend, Ian Blair, who was writing from Sucre, Bolivia. Ian and I met last fall when we gathered for food in Harvard Square with our mutual friend, Daron Roberts of Harvard Law School. At the time, Ian was putting together plans to take a year or two off from his corporate life to travel the world. Ian was writing yesterday to report in on the progress of his journey, and to make me aware of a Website he is updating frequently that recounts his adventures along the way.

I am sharing the link to Ian’s Website for two primary purposes. The first reason is fairly obvious. I love world travel, and suspect that many of the readers of The White Rhino Report share my passion for visiting exotic places and experiencing the chance to meet people from different cultures.

My second reason for sharing this link is more convoluted. In my role as an Executive Recruiter, I end up doing a lot of de facto career counseling with individuals who find themselves at every possible stage of their professional careers – from entry level to post-retirement and second career. I am observing a growing trend of individuals who want to address issues of lifestyle balance at an ever-earlier stage of their lives. It used to be that most of those who became concerned with and focused on lifestyle balance were doing so reactively after having experienced the trauma of burnout, divorce, serious illness or the ravages of addiction. I see the pendulum swinging more towards the proactive side – with more and more people seeing the need to balance their life at work with adequate time devoted to family, hobbies, church and civic involvement, as well as taking time to “small the roses” while still young enough to have full olfactory capabilities intact!

I see Ian Blair, and his choice to take a hiatus from climbing the corporate ladder in order to scale the Andes, as emblematic of this growing cadre of those who are opting off of the treadmill of workaholism. I offer Ian as a potential role model for some, and for others, as a source of vicarious fulfillment as you monitor his peregrinations through his Website – Seeking Shangri-La.

http://www.seekingshangrila.com/

Enjoy!

Al