For years, Mark Albion ran at the head of the rat pack. Every step of the way, he built his career on a succession of triumphs. He earned three degrees at Harvard University: a bachelor's in economics, an MBA, and a PhD in business economics. In 1982, at the age of 31, he won an appointment at Harvard Business School, the West Point of capitalism, where he taught marketing. His success at Harvard attracted attention: He appeared several times on "Nightline" and was profiled on "60 Minutes" as part of a new breed of marketing wunderkind. He was called upon to help the best and the brightest: Blue-chip companies such as Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola flew him in for advice on how to fine-tune their brands. He had brilliant colleagues, unlimited resources, few bosses, a flexible work schedule, and personal wealth.

Oh, and one other thing: He was miserable.

Without realizing it, Albion -- a go-go guy with rapid-fire speech and the ability to function on four hours' sleep -- had allowed himself to get trapped in the rat race. He had always believed that he was on this planet not just to make a living but to find a way to enrich other people's lives. But in his quest to get ahead, he had left his core values behind. Albion was making a great living; he was failing to make a life.

If there is a promise at the heart of the new economy, it is this: We should all do work that matters. Today, we all put in too many hours, and accumulate too much stress, to work at something that isn't personally engaging and rewarding.

That said, far too many of us are willing to accept the notion that the new economy's promise simply doesn't apply to us. We still trudge off to work in the morning, tacitly accepting that we're stuck with whatever life deals us -- or, alternatively, that while our work may be unsatisfying, at least it provides the material definition of success. As a result, we feel that we're forced into making a fateful, either-or decision: Either make a living or make a life. Mark Albion has taken on an audacious challenge -- to replace the "either-or" with a "both-and." His mission is to demonstrate that you can make both a living and a life.

In 1988, Albion chucked the prepackaged definition of success that had buoyed him at Harvard. But what was he going to replace it with? He wasn't sure. But he knew one essential thing: He had to do work that mattered.

Albion never did find the right "job" -- but after much struggle, he invented one: He launched an electronic newsletter. He started a business. And he wrote a book, "Making a Life, Making a Living: Reclaiming Your Purpose and Passion in Business and in Life" ( to be published in mid-January by Warner Books ), which profiles 11 high achievers ( plus one dubious achiever, Fast Company founding editor Alan Webber ), who found their way into work that mattered to them.

Many of us built careers based on what we were good at, not what we loved -- not what made us feel ALIVE. 

Book Description
Former professor at Harvard Business School, highly successful Fortune 500 consultant, and part owner of lucrative businesses, Mark Albion had it all--but the "it" he had wasn't what his body and soul needed to thrive. So he did the unthinkable. He gave up what he did so well and started over.

Drawing on intimate interviews with a dozen fast-trackers he met on his search for happiness, Mark shares how these men and women found the courage and motivation to re-create successful professional lives guided by passion.

You'll meet, among others, Judy George, who went from a crushing job termination--to establishing her own home furnishings company based on the same treasured values that guide her family...Ira Jackson, who left his public sector job--and put his social conscience to work rebuilding a bank's reputation...and Tom Reis, who found the climb up the corporate ladder unfulfilling--and now works at a nonprofit organization for a cause that truly matters to him.

Making a Life, Making a Living proves that you can change horses in midstream and find work you really love. Inspiring, eye-opening, and sprinkled with insightful quotes from such diverse sources as Mother Teresa, W. C. Fields, Maya Angelou, Marilyn Monroe, Warren Buffett, and Martin Luther King, Jr., this personal In Search of Excellence for the new millennium will help you combine your ambition and passions to create a livelihood that enriches both the world and yourself.

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