From Nike CEO to Starting Over at 65: John Donahoe’s Reinvention

John Donahoe (0:00)

I think one of the hardest lessons I've learned was how much adversity is a fact of life, both personal and professional adversity. And adversity is what gives our lives purpose and meaning. I was afraid of adversity. I hated when things weren't going well. I wanted everything to go well. I want everyone to feel good. And yet, so when adversity was there, my reaction was so like almost panic and negative, and I can't wait to get out of this pain or this suffering or this whatever.

SPEAKER_2 (0:30)

Welcome to The Midlife Chrysalis Podcast with Chip Conley, where we explore how midlife isn't a crisis, but a chrysalis, a time of profound transformation that can lead to the most meaningful chapter of your life.

Chip Conley (0:46)

Welcome to The Midlife Chrysalis. This is Chip Conley. And we all have people we admire in life. And the gentleman who's joining me for this episode is a bit of an admiration addict as am I. And so we have been mirrors for each other. And yet in some ways, when I'm trying to imagine myself as his mirror, I feel like I'm an imposter. And yet during one of his hardest times of his life a couple of years ago, I was the person, one of the people by his side, helping support him through a period that was rocked his ego. It was a dark, not a dark night of the soul. It was more of a dark night of the ego.

John Donahoe is one of the most esteemed CEOs of our time. He's been the CEO in his late 30s of Bain, one of the largest global consulting firms, CEO of eBay, which owned PayPal at that time, and then went on to become CEO of ServiceNow, enterprise software company, CEO of Nike, and now in charge of all athletics at Stanford University. But his path has not been easy, and we dive a little deeper in this episode in two particular times. One, when in his mid-50s, he knew that he needed a break and what he learned from that break, and then more recently when he left a job in a way that he'd never left before, in a way that felt like he'd been a bit punished, and yet it led to a serendipity. This is one of my favorite episodes we've ever had on The Midlife Chrysalis. I hope you will enjoy it, and at the end, I'll give you my three key lessons.

John Donahoe, you are a hero of mine, and have always been ever since I met you in Young Presence Organization, YPO. Welcome to The Midlife Chrysalis.

John Donahoe (2:38)

Thank you, Chip, and you know that feeling is mutual.

Chip Conley (2:41)

Yeah.

John Donahoe (2:41)

That's good for development number one.

Chip Conley (2:44)

It's been beautiful as we've over time, gosh, 20 years maybe, more than 20 years actually, seen each other through good times and bad times. You saw me when I was going through a really rough time in my late 40s, knowing that I did not want this Frankenstein I'd built, this boutique hotel company, I didn't want to do it anymore, but I didn't know what to do with it. I saw you show the beauty of you saying, I need space in my life after two incredible gigs, one for 20 years, one for about 10 years, between your time at Bain.

Which by the way, you were like 38 or 39 years old when you became the CEO and managing world global managing partner of one of the biggest consulting firms, if not the biggest consulting firm in the world. That is pretty impressive. But in your mid-50s, you took what Mary Catherine Bateson calls a midlife atrium. I want to actually go deep on that and then we're going to talk a little bit about your time then after that you went to ServiceNow, then you went to Nike as CEO, and then now you are the director and basically in charge of all athletic programs at Stanford. So let's go deeper on these two particular times. What was going on for you around your mid-50s that said to you, after 30 years of very significant work in a global consulting firm, and then this fast growing e-commerce company, PayPal, what was it that said to you, I need a break?

John Donahoe (4:21)

You know, Chip, it had been such an intense period. My time at eBay was, it felt like almost…

Chip Conley (4:29)

Did I call it PayPal?

John Donahoe (4:31)

Well, eBay, PayPal, it was both.

Chip Conley (4:33)

Yeah, eBay owned PayPal, exactly.

John Donahoe (4:36)

eBay owned PayPal. The company name was eBay at the time.