Déjà vu's Long Lost Cousin

Howard Behar, my boss thirty-five years ago at Starbucks, once shared how, during his time managing a furniture store, he’d walk around the showroom, examining the space from every possible angle. He tried things like crawling through the front door.

His goal? To find the perfect perspective that would make the furniture irresistible to customers.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the work clients and I do figuring out what to do in retirement from a different angle.

Do you remember the dreams you had as a kid? The way you imagined life as a grown-up?

Every now and then, I experience a flash of recognition, as if my childhood visions are playing out in real-time.

The first time this happened, I was 21. I landed a job that sent me flying across the country to San Francisco in the first few weeks. Back then, I’d only been on a plane twice, so weekly business trips from Chicago to the Bay Area felt like success. The office, perched with a stunning view of the city, and the impressive paycheck made it all feel glamorous.

But here’s the thing about glamor—it’s often an illusion. That job, glamorous as it seemed, quickly turned into hours, weeks, and months of crunching numbers. The reality didn’t quite match the fantasy.

Fast forward to last week. I found myself in Portland, again traveling for work, collaborating with a group of peers to strategize and refine our businesses. While the setting and purpose were different, there was still a hint of that childhood dream—the sense of doing something important in a cool and exciting place.

Now, I’m reflecting on those childhood dreams and asking myself: What did I really want? What do my clients really want? So often it’s hard to pin down. Recognizing hard-to-label feelings, (déjà vu’s long lost cousin?) can help figure out that we’re close to hitting the mark.

What do you think?

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