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As listeners to our podcast well know, one of our favorite queries for finance executives who have had a lengthy tenure in one place is, \u201cWhat kept you there?\u201d

It may go without saying that something with the word \u201copportunity\u201d in it is perhaps the most popular response. Still, for certain finance leaders\u2014and especially those whose careers span multiple decades with a single company\u2014this question often summons up a degree of self-reflection that few others bring forth.

Such was the case with Cox Enterprises President and CFO Dallas Clement, who afforded our question an extra modicum of contemplation that we had not expected before issuing some of the best career advice that has ever been shared on this podcast.

To be fair, we may have prejudged Clement in assuming that his expansive (33 years) and adventurous career within Cox had unfolded without any degree of uncertainty. However, Clement quickly dispersed our presumptions by unveiling two career snapshots.

The first came from the early 1990s, when Clement was contemplating exiting the environs of Cox\u2019s Atlanta headquarters to practice law while living on the beach in Sarasota, Florida. \u201cI had kept deferring law school, but at the time, I thought that this possibility might make for a pretty good life.\u201d

Another came from nearly 15 years later, when Clement\u2014now a father with four daughters\u2014was touring homes with his wife in Silicon Valley as he evaluated the relocation possibilities associated with an appointment that he subsequently would reject.  \u201cEven if I wasn\u2019t completely happy in my current role, it would have been disruptive to the kids and risky, so I didn\u2019t leave,\u201d explains Clement, who perhaps saves his best observations for those career-builders who like him have elected to stay put.

He advises: \u201cOnce you\u2019ve gone through that exercise and decided to stay, don\u2019t second-guess yourself. Be all in\u2014not only in your professional role but also more broadly in your life, your family, your outside work activities\u2014because work is what you do, it\u2019s not who you are. Over time, I have learned to be more mature and thoughtful about this. I really appreciate how lucky I\u2019ve been in a variety of areas.\u201d  \u2013Jack Sweeney

Listen to the Episode Below (1:00:27)