The Power of Positive Destruction

Afterword: You Can Invent the Future

When I first decided to write this book in 2013, life was normal. Liquidnet was coming out of the mess ignited by the financial crisis, and I was confident the company would survive. All the battles won and lost came with lessons learned, tactics improved, and stories to share. Anne, my partner and soul mate, was radiantly alive and we were dreaming again about our future.

It turned out that Liquidnet was far from out of the woods and I could never in my worst nightmare dream of what was yet to come. After Anne’s accident, I had nothing left. Work was incredibly tough, but home was worse—there was no respite. There was no escape, and then there were the projects that Anne had been working on, especially the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village that I had to make sure continued to thrive through what would be a very difficult transition.

In the weeks following the accident I knew I had to go to the Village in Rwanda. The kids living in the Village were worried that without Anne, whom they called “mother” or “grandmother,” the Village would close and they would again suffer the loss of their home and their new family. The Village that began as just a thought and became a reality through Anne’s sheer will and perseverance absolutely had to continue. The kids needed to see me and hear me tell them that I would make sure the village would always go on. When I arrived and spoke at the most beautiful memorial service I had ever experienced, I told them ...