What's at the End of the Rainbow?

Nick Soman is such a funny guy.  I remember when he and I were younger entrepreneurs and he was presenting on the merits of a dating app that he was creating.  His slides stopped working.  He lost his script.  And he just kept talking.  It was awesome and hilarious.  I realized in that moment that this is someone who isn’t going to hold back when he hits an obstacle.  

And so, in true Nick Soman fashion, he elected to take on a big obstacle, healthcare!  Today, Nick is the founder and CEO of Decent, a health insurance provider that is helping bring more affordability and service to those in need (and many need it).  I was thrilled when Nick agreed to contribute as a Designer in my new book, One Life to Lead and share his experiences in architecting his life as he has traversed leadership in business.

He has a passage in the book where he asks the question, “What’s at the end of the rainbow you are chasing?” and challenges us to ask ourselves the same.  He says:

When I was in my second year of business school at Harvard, I got a second bout of Guillain-Barré syndrome, which meant I was paralyzed. I wasn’t able to walk. I spent time in intensive care. I would need to learn to walk again. While all of my friends were getting awesome jobs, I was lying in bed. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t move. I was angry. I thought I was going to die.

Consider that.  Everyone around you is off and running in their professional and personal lives and you are paralyzed.  I imagine many of us feel paralyzed in some way or another and that makes it hard to move.  Nick recovered and reflected on the following:

And so I thought deeply about the next thing I wanted to do. I didn’t care if it was going to make me the most successful entrepreneur or not. I wanted to make sure it was about more than me; that win or lose, I was going to be grateful for the journey. I wanted to tackle a hard problem, but not one where I had to prove that there was a market opportunity. So I leaned into a personal problem I faced, and that was providing more-affordable health insurance for Americans. For the first time, I felt connected to a purpose that was so much bigger than me, and it wasn’t about the money. It wasn’t about the outcome. It wasn’t about the approval of others. I realized, If I do this right, well, I get to keep doing it. And the clarity of purpose to provide more-affordable health insurance sparked a series of lucky opportunities to build a great team and to raise money from top-tier investors. I let go of my ego, which was interfering with my inner compass.

By letting go of worrying about others and being guided by what gives him energy, Nick found a pathway for impact.  There is still no guarantee of the outcome.  Health insurance is one complicated morass.  But for Nick, he has nothing to prove.  He lives his worth everyday.

You can learn more about Nick and other designers in One Life to Lead:  Business Success Through Better Life Design.  

Russell Benaroya is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker and author of One Life to Lead and Free Yourself to Work on Your Business.  To learn more, visit www.russellbenaroya.com.