About Mike Enos
I spent decades climbing the ladder. Then I had to ask whether it was leaning against the right wall.
Mike Enos · Exploring what comes next
On my first day as a consultant, someone placed a stack of compensation surveys on my desk and asked me to enter the data into a spreadsheet, one number at a time.
I had spent my twenties earning a master’s degree and working toward a PhD. I imagined I would help leaders build workplaces where people could flourish. Instead, I sat behind a computer doing work I thought a monkey could do. I remember thinking: This is going to be a long grind.
I kept going anyway.
Over the next 25 years, I built a career that looked successful by almost every conventional measure. I became a partner, advised senior executives and boards, and served in leadership roles including chief people officer and chief operating officer.
The script kept telling me to climb. A quieter voice kept asking whether I wanted the life the climb was creating.
The question became impossible to ignore
One of my closest mentors left consulting to pursue something different. The new venture failed, and he eventually returned to the industry. At 52, he died while he was on a client call.
His death hit close to home. I could see myself on the same path—spending my life doing work I no longer loved and waiting too long to change it.
Eventually, I left my career with nothing lined up. I expected freedom to bring clarity. Instead, I spent weeks on the couch eating popcorn, watching Law & Order reruns, and spinning about what to do next.
I was trying to rebuild my old life
A coach asked what I wanted to do next. I began describing the chaos, meetings, fire drills, and intensity I had managed as a COO.
Then she asked, ‘What do you like about those things, Mike?’
I could not answer. I realized I was describing what I knew how to do—not what I wanted to do. Even after leaving my career, I was trying to return to the identity I had spent decades building.
Ironman · Lake Placid
Kilimanjaro · Tanzania
Action created the clarity thinking could not
I began running small experiments. I joined Stanford’s LEAD program. I trained as a coach. I built new communities. I went to Colorado to climb the Manitou Incline. My mantra became: Don’t think, just do.
One experience led to another: Mount Washington in winter, Kilimanjaro with my son, an Ironman, an ultramarathon, and writing Explore Again.
The point was never to collect extreme achievements. These experiences taught me what made me feel alive. They helped me confront fear, become a novice again, build deeper relationships, and turn achievement toward contribution.
Today, helping other people move forward is not simply my work. It is my calling.
Background
Experience, learning, and a life in motion.
PhD in Education and Adult Learning. Certified executive coach. Stanford GSB LEAD program graduate. More than 25 years in consulting and executive leadership. Author of Explore Again. Ironman finisher and Kilimanjaro summiteer.
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