John Templeton will be missed
Job Search July 9th, 2008“If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd.” John Templeten
John Templeten , who died yesterday at age 95, knew his own passion and the legacy he wanted to leave behind. It was a legacy that stood through several tests and storms of time.
According to the Wall Street Journal, on the eve of World War II, John Templeton bought stock in 104 companies selling at $1 a share or less. Only a few turned out to be worthless, while in time the rest turned large profits. Templeton went on to become one of the world’s great fund managers by investing at what he called “points of maximum pessimism.”
Yet Templeton was never himself a pessimist. As an investor, he always had confidence his picks would improve over the long term. Appropriately, the same “enthusiasm for progress,” as he put it, also made him one of the world’s great philanthropists.
Life’s spiritual dimensions were John’s passion and foundation. To that end, he established the Templeton Foundation, which supports academic research in fields like cognitive science and evolutionary biology, as well as work related to the origin and nature of spirituality. Templeton also knew that many such modern philanthropies tend to begin with good intentions and then slide away from donor intent, so he established multiple checks to ensure that his financial legacy will stay true to his vision long after he was gone.
The Templeton Foundation now has a $1.5 billion endowment and awards some $70 million every year. He was indeed an optimistic investor for the long term.
At 92, John said in an interview with NewsMax and Financial Intelligence Report, “At age 27, I formed my own investment firm, working with just five wealthy people. Eventually, when I sold out, we were helping over a million people with some part of their investments. And I felt that was a ministry, that I was doing a useful job, that I was not wasting the life God gave me. But all during that time, over 50 years, I felt that my benefit to people was not as great as if I were trying to help them get spiritual wealth.”
What is the legacy you want to leave behind? What is it you want to be remembered for? In career coaching, the legacy one wants to leave behind is a critical piece in career management and discovering career direction.
A coaching session is offered to focus in on your legacy and passions, to move these forward to benefit not only you, but others for years to come.
I work with professionals and mid-level managers who on Sunday night dread Monday morning…and would love to enjoy Monday morning as much as Friday afternoon! Email me at Terri@SummitViewCareerCoaching.com or see my website for further information.
Enjoy Monday morning as much as Friday afternoon!
