From Building Value to Living It – Aging Gratefully
I’ve spent most of my professional life thinking about value. I’m Chairman of Mercer Capital and have been with the firm since its founding in 1982. I’m semi-retired, and work with a few long-standing clients and on projects that are interesting and challenging to me.
For decades, my work focused on helping business owners, attorneys, and other advisors understand, build, and ultimately realize the value of private businesses. That work led to writing, speaking, and advising across the country – and to building a firm, with the help of many, dedicated to that purpose.
Along the way, I came to appreciate that building value in a business is only part of the story.
At some point, often later than it should, the focus begins to shift.
From building value … to asking: what is that value for?
From growing enterprises … to transitioning them: management, ownership, and responsibility.
And eventually, to a more personal question:
What does it mean to live a life of value?
This blog reflects that shift.
It draws on a lifetime of experience in business valuation, but it is no longer about valuing businesses. It is about applying those lessons – discipline, long-term thinking, stewardship, and perspective – to life itself.
That includes:
- Navigating transition – both professional and personal
- Maintaining health and energy over time
- Continuing to grow while learning to let go, and
- Developing a mindset grounded in faith and gratitude
In recent years, I’ve begun writing about walking, exercise, diet, pickleball, and other ways to stay active on ChrisMercer.net. Not as a departure from earlier work, but as an extension of it.
Health is a form of capital. Energy matters. Longevity, if we’re fortunate enough to achieve it, requires intentionality.
The idea of aging gratefully sits at the center of all of this.
There is discussion on social media, in books, podcasts, and more about “aging gracefully.” I have never felt very graceful about many aspects of life. I speak instead in terms of “aging gratefully.” An “attitude of gratitude” is very helpful in life. We all receive many blessings, including the blessing of being able to work on ourselves as we age. Developing an attitude of gratitude will help us to age gratefully.
Not aging “gracefully,” as if it were passive.
But aging with awareness, recognizing what has been built, what remains, and what matters most. Approaching this stage of life with gratitude, perspective, and, when possible, a bit of humor.
If you are a professional who has spent years building – a reputation, clients, a practice, a business – you may be asking some of the same questions.
This blog is for those who are:
- Thinking about transition, not just growth
- Interested in maintaining health as well as wealth
- Reflecting on what comes next, and
- Determined to make the most of the time ahead
I don’t claim to have all the answers about this stage of life. But I am working on the questions.
I have spent a lifetime building value — and I’m now focused on living it.
And doing so, as best I can. I’ll be writing about the journey on this blog.
From Building Value to Living It – Aging Gratefully