Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images Best wake-up call ever? We say yes. Unless your wake-up call involves a pile of kittens pouncing all over you and a plate of bacon waiting on the nightstand.
When Mohamed El-Erian, who up until recently was chief executive of the investment fund Pimco, left his job this past January, rumors of internal conflict ran rampant. But in an article he wrote for Worth magazine, Mohamed gave his reason for stepping down and it's probably the best reason we've ever heard for leaving a job. Besides winning the lottery or deciding to dedicate your life to finding the cure for cancer.
The 56-year-old revealed that during a little argument with his 10-year-old daughter about a year ago, she gave him a list of all the important events and activities that he had missed due to his work schedule.
"The list contained 22 items, from her first day at school and first soccer match of the season to a parent-teacher meeting and a Halloween parade. And the school year wasn't over," he wrote. "I felt awful and got defensive: I had a good excuse for each missed event! Travel, important meetings, an urgent phone call, sudden to-dos…But it dawned on me that I was missing an infinitely more important point."
According to the Telegraph, Mohamed would start his day at 2:45 a.m., be at the office by 5:45 a.m. and would not return home until 7 p.m. But that's all changed now.
He stepped down from his high-powered position to take a job that has fewer work commitments and shorter hours. Mohamed is now chief economic adviser at Allianz, and he says he is "grateful to experience key moments" with his daughter.
"I now alternate with my wife in waking up our daughter every morning, preparing her breakfast and driving her to school," he wrote. "I'm also around much more often to pick her up after school and take her to activities. She and I are doing a lot of wonderful talking and sharing. We've even planned a holiday together, just the two of us."
He also notes that he is aware of how fortunate he is to be able to find a flexible job and structure his life a certain way to be with his family more.
"Unfortunately, not everyone has this luxury," he said. "But hopefully, as companies give more attention to the importance of work-life balance, more and more people will be in a better position to decide and act more holistically on what's important to them."
It's not every day you hear an uplifting story about a CEO of a major company, so drink this all in, folks.