I don’t always flunk retirement, which explains who I am doing a mini mid week ski trip with another former CEO. At Northstar in Tahoe we took advantage of the opportunity to spend a few hours with a mountain guide, all for free. (Vail Resorts, what a nice touch…) Imagine my surprise, when as we did the requisite introductions on the first chair lift, I discovered our guide, Dave,  was also an interim CFO.

The interim world is, of course,  the upper echelon of the Gig Economy. These individuals walk into situations where typically, as Dave asserted, they should have been called into months  before.  “We play fireman”, he says, and because of that, the job can be stressful. The good news  though is its only a 3 ( or maybe 4 or 6 …) month gig. So when Dave needs to decompress, he heads to his other life in the wonderful world of ski resorts.

Apparently, Vail Resorts is very flexible with Dave. They have developed a specialized software system which enables seasonal employees, like Dave,  to choose scheduling options that work with the other parts of their lives. It’s a tremendous outcome; Dave gets to blend the rigor and economics of his interim CFO life with the serenity of the mountain, Vail gets an employee who is grateful for his role and not so much over qualified as other qualified for the job, and the customers get a wonderful tour of the mountain enlivened by fascinating conversation about the future of work. Is this a great country or what..

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