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. Today, I am semi-retired, working with a few long-standing clients and on projects that I find interesting and challenging.
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 same principles—discipline, long-term thinking, and stewardship—to life itself.
More recently, I’ve come to think about life in terms of stewardship:
- Physical stewardship – caring for the body that carries us
- Mental and spiritual stewardship – how we think, reflect, and stay grounded
- Financial stewardship – managing resources with discipline and purpose
- Relationships – the people who shape our lives, and whom we shape in return
- Purpose and work – meaning, contribution, and how that evolves over time
- Legacy beyond wealth – what we leave behind that cannot be measured in dollars
These ideas provide a framework for how I think about aging—and how I write.
In recent years, I’ve written about walking, exercise, diet, pickleball, and staying active. 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 much discussion about “aging gracefully.” I’ve never felt particularly graceful about many aspects of life. I prefer to think in terms of “aging gratefully.”
Not as a passive process—but as an active one.
Paying attention to what’s happening around us.
Understanding where we are.
Recognizing what matters most.
And 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, or a business – you may be asking some of the same questions.
Tis 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
- 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 here.