Screw the Pink Shirt

What would you say is the most challenging personal situation you've had to deal with and how did you grapple with it and hopefully overcame it?

There have been several, but perhaps one of the toughest for me was I had just been given a big new job to launch and head up Comcast Interactive Media, which was a new division of Comcast at the time, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember the phone call where the nurse called to say that I had tested positive. And telling her, no, that just couldn't possibly be the case. That, one, I felt great and healthy and was running every day, and two, I I had just been given this great new job. So I just didn't really have time for breast cancer. And she said to me, it's not going to be a problem. Just give us a year, it's early stage, we'll get through it and you'll get your pink shirt at the end of the year.

And I remember I'm in my office on the phone with her, my admin is sitting right outside. I said to this poor nurse, I've got plenty of pink shirts. I don't need your pink shirt. But unfortunately, you know, you can't do anything about it. And so I had to go through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. You know, it's hard to keep up, to keep up a positive energy and do all the things that we've been talking about. Define a vision. Articulate a vision. Tell the story around the vision. Recruit a team. Keep the team motivated. Keep the team going, when you're not feeling so great, and when you're worried about your kids and how they're gonna react to your bald head.