Corporate Cancer

I just re-read an article from the New York Times business section which features Trish May, founder and CEO of Athena Partners. She’s 56 and has used her experience with cancer to find her mission, passion and even profit.

May had breast cancer at age 39 in the midst of her big career at Microsoft. She is the creator of Microsoft PowerPoint. I know. There’s a mixed blessing; we can love her or hate her for that gift of PowerPoint to the world.

But her next gift was taking her cancer experience and applying her business skills to create a line of products—Athena Partners—including bottled water, and chocolates and giving 100 percent of her profits to cancer research.

I was moved by her story and impressed by her actions. I had to ask myself why I liked her while many cancer survivor, “Cancer changed my life” stories turn me off. I think it’s this: there is nothing whiny about this woman. She is a survivor –cancer did change her life—but she is no victim. 

She is committed to the cancer cause because of personal experience and her attitude is facing forward, “Let’s do something” rather than backward, “Look what happened to me.”

Can I make this shift in my thinking? What would that look like? And for you too?