Kaitlyn Gomez
Josh Kosnick is an author, coach, entrepreneur, and speaker. Over the course of his career, he has built three businesses, starting his first one in his early 20s. His success was lauded, and he was a rising star in the business world as one of the youngest managing partners at the firm where he worked. At 41, it all fell apart, forcing Kosnick to face some hard truths about himself.
“I had prioritized the wrong things in my life, like success, accolades, goals, money, stuff of that nature,” Kosnick explains.
The abrupt end to his successful career would force Kosnick into a reset, eventually leading him to write The Kairos Code.
The Highest High
Kosnick was an entrepreneur at a young age. At 24, he started his first business, a financial planning practice. He enjoyed working with clients and established himself as a leader in his field. He continued to build his business while working at another firm. He rose to a leadership position and was soon mentoring, recruiting, and developing people.
When Kosnick was 35, he became one of the youngest managing partners ever appointed in a Fortune 100 company. He defines this period as his “meteoric rise” in that field. Within 5 years, he was overseeing 250 employees while managing the company’s assets, and the company was “crushing all goals.”
At the pinnacle of his career, the bottom dropped out.
“The exit wasn’t a happy one for me. I hit what I call the pit of despair. There, in the darkest point in my life, I came to realizations that were really powerful, that inspired me to write this book,” Kosnick says.
Learning Hard Lessons
The life of an entrepreneur is a lot like a rollercoaster, Kosnick asserts, with many ups and downs, twists and turns. Early in his journey, he’d tried to have it all, working hard and playing hard. He tried to maintain an active social nightlife while also building a business. Soon, it became apparent to him that he had to choose to focus on his business, so he “went all in.” That was the first big step in his maturity. The second was becoming a boss.
Kosnick had to deal with difficult situations while growing his businesses. One of the hardest conversations for a leader to have is when an employee makes a mistake. Kosnick recognized that it didn’t matter to clients who made the mistake; it was up to him to make it right. In the end, he was the responsible one because the company was his.
When he fell, Kosnick knew it was up to him to pick up the pieces. This introspection is why he started to write his book, The Kairos Code. He wrote about the lessons he learned from one of the most difficult moments of his life, with the hope that his story could inspire and impact lives. His goal is to help others lead a life of significance.
“When you experience a fall, like I did, especially as abruptly and kind of harshly as I did, you learn that people connect to you through your vulnerability, not your perceived strengths,” Kosnick says.
Through his book and his life assessment, based on the 5 Bridges of Kairos he developed, he hopes to help others cross those five bridges so that they can live a life free of regret.