Faced with a very difficult business decision in late 2006, I made the right decision. Yet, that decision did not save my skin or help my corporate career. It put me in a difficult place with executives who did not want me to vocalize my opinion of their wrong-doing.
As a result, it has been a decision that has followed me for years. The decision cost me my job 
within twelve months. It cost me the loss of a significant income, created huge financial pressures and personal stress, plus a whole host of other issues.
Considering the nightmarish days and nights it caused for me and my family I love dearly, would I make the same decision again? Without a doubt, yes.
Although it has been an agonizing road, I have faced and embraced adversity. It has tested my limits. It has tested the deep recesses of my heart. It also has shown me the real side of people and so-called friends, not the fake foolishness you observe when people think there is a profit involved by having a relationship with you.
In other words, I have seen the real ugly side of people who I thought were ethical and cordial.
So what do you do with all the pain, heartache, financial loss, mental anguish and stress related to living with right decisions that make your life hell on earth? In my case, I have taken that pain to create a company that helps organizations build great workplaces.
I want to be able to say everything is going to be okay and that it all works out in the end. That is not a realistic view of the world we live in. Although you may have peace on the inside, there may be great difficulties continuing on the outside.
I am taking pain and turning it into a positive force. What are you doing with your pain?
