George B. Thomas, CEO and author of The UN American Dream, reflects on how he built his identity around his business, abandoned his faith, and neglected his family in pursuit of ego-driven success. He committed infidelity and later remarried, examining the personal costs of prioritizing career over relationships.
Wrote a book about it in 2019 called the UN American Dream and detailed, chronicled a lot of my decisions. Number one was just making my business the center point in that regard. I walked away from my faith and really looked to my business. And I find that so many of us in the professional world find our identity and our purpose in our jobs. I think it's a wonderful place to apply our purpose. I think it's a horrible place to find it. So I swapped those two things, and that was a bad choice. As part of that unrelenting drive for success, which really was about ego for me, I neglected my family. And initially I had started the agency so I could be home more. And then as we started to grow and find success, I got sucked back in because it was mine at that point. And I deluded myself to say, hey, I'm doing this all for my family. And then I stepped out on my marriage as well. Thankfully, I have a wife who's amazing. So we talk about being in our second marriage, but to same but very different people.
