I was on my way to catch a 7am flight to Milwaukee, where I was scheduled to make a speech about leadership and life, when I felt a strange lump on the right side of my throat. I immediately knew that something was wrong.

An examination and two biopsies later, my wife and I learned that the lump was cancerous. During the long days of waiting for the results, I kept my cell phone and pen and paper close, in case the results of the test were complicated. I remember hearing the dreaded diagnosis over the phone and simply writing the word “cancer”. When I hung up, the emotion hit me like a truck. I went into the shower and wept with disbelief.

Later, I heard my 13-year-old and 10-year-old daughters crying in their rooms, and it began sinking in: cancer had come to our house. Although I was the one with it, my whole family would all have to go through the experience with me.

Even though I knew that millions of people had fought this same fight, I felt alone. With the love of my wife and three kids, I believed that I could face cancer, but – for the first time in my life – I was really afraid.

The next few weeks saw test after test. We spent countless hours searching the internet for the best treatment options and gathering our support network to help us face it.

Cancer was like nothing I had experienced in the business world. Doctors removed my tonsils and performed a radical neck dissection. Then I needed radiation to guarantee that every cancer cell had been killed.

I was a keynote speaker who – I realized – might not speak again.

I put work on hold and leaned hard on my team to make it through. As the pressure mounted, it revealed areas of weakness in what I had built. I carried way too much of the company on my back. Although a healthy me could support the load, I was not creating independence or accountability within my team. Energy, culture, mood and attention to detail could not be just my responsibility.

Many hard conversations came my way following my treatment, and I could see the gaps in my leadership that had been exposed in my absence. Accountability had to be shared and while I wanted my people to like me both as a person and leader, I was sacrificing our potential by trying to gain acceptance.

I learned that, for things to grow bigger than me, I had to get out of the way and empower people to find success without my guiding hand. Today, we have a new office and many new employees. My business partner and I are creating independent – yet interdependent – employees who are driven by the mission of the business, not just me.

I could tell you about the radiation and the aftereffects that I am still dealing with today, but – honestly – who cares? I am 47 years old and weigh 15lb less than my normal weight, but I am more alive than ever. I am cancer-free and I am a better man, husband, father, employer, speaker and friend. I am temporary, but I can create and contribute to things that can’t be stopped by cancer – things that will live well beyond me.

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