The novel was finished

The answer was, “Yes, as long as the forty-four-year-old gave it his best shot.” And I then said, “OK, next question. Same vantage point, same younger guy. Let’s assume the forty-four-yearold knew what he wanted to do, had identified it, but decided that the risk for social failure and economic failure was just too great and therefore never did it. How would the seventy-fiveyear-old feel about that?” And I thought that would be unforgivable. Next, a very weird thing happened to me: It was almost a physical sensation. At that instant, I lost the fear of failure, and it has never come back. It was like losing vertigo. By the way, I am not indifferent to failure. I worried about what people would think and what would happen if I failed.

John did all the research for his first book, a financial-world thriller, in his spare time, then scraped together every possible bit of vacation time to go away and write it. By the time he left the bank a year later, the novel was finished, and he had a contract to publish it. Before quitting, he also sold the film rights to Universal.

Novel writing has become the core of John’s new work life, which comprises a portfolio of different professional activities. A second ring is running Masterprize, an international competition for contemporary composers that he created and convinced the BBC and EMI to sponsor. Founding a boutique investment bank, the third ring, was not part of the plan.

I had expected to leave banking-related things altogether. But three of my clients who were big companies said to me independently that they would like to keep in touch. Could I find a way to make that possible? I said, “I have no brand, no machine.” And they said, “We don’t care about stuff like that. What we appreciate is honest advice, and we always trusted you.” And I learned that giving advice to people who have already decided what they want is really quite enjoyable, provided it didn’t get in the way of the books and the music. The bit I disliked was having to go into that bank every morning.

In the end John settled on a portfolio career, pursuing a varied mix of different ventures, some for pay, some as gift work; some that exploit his past experience, some that let him explore new frontiers.^[3] Recognizing that managing any diverse portfolio is a long-term gambit, he concludes:

You have to be willing to say I am actually going to invest in growing a new life, where I am supporting things I really love, where I can meet interesting people, whether they are painters, musicians and dancers, or people who have my accounts. I want to get involved, not just with my money. I want to have a part to play as well.