THE CHIEF FINANCIAL officer at Google Patrick Pichette is retiring aged 52 after his wife asked him on holidays, “When is it going to be our time?”
He shared why he choose to retire saying that after his wife Tamar asked the question while the pair were climbing at Kilimanjaro – he couldn’t get it out of his head when he went back to work.
“A few weeks later, I was happy back at work, but could not shake away THE question: When is it time for us to just keep going? And so began a reflection on my/our life.
“I am completing this summer 25-30 years of nearly non-stop work. it has been a whirlwind of truly amazing experiences.
But as I count it now, it has also been a frenetic pace for about 1500 weeks now. Always on – even when I was not supposed to be. Especially when I was not supposed to be.
“And am guilty as charged – I love my job (still do), my colleagues, my friends, the opportunities to lead and change the world.
“The short answer is simply that I could not find a good argument to tell Tamar we should wait any longer for us to grab our backpacks and hit the road celebrate our last 25 years together by turning the page and enjoy a perfectly fine mid life crisis full of bliss and beauty.”
So while travelling the world may be on the cards for now Pichette added that he will “leave the door open to serendipity for our next leadership opportunities, once our long list of travels and adventures is exhausted”.
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