Farewell to a Friend: How Paul O'Byrne Changed the World

VeraSage Sr Fellow, Paul O'Byrne, of CA firm O'Byrne & Kennedy, passed away today, Nov 16, at his London home surrounded by family. His passing was not unexpected, but is no less saddening.Paul was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in mid-2007, which he fought admirably and gracefully. His last year was considered by him as "bonus" time and he spent it doing the things he loved. You can read Paul's journey, here, and laugh and live with him as we have.Many years ago, Paul and his business partner, Paul Kennedy, made the Firm of the Future a reality. Pricing in advance and focusing on creation of value for their clients, they also culled the client-base to make sure the could serve the remaining clients fully and well. Quality over quantity. Quite the opposite of most firms' mantras.Quality over quantity applies to Paul's years living, too, he was merely 51. And the legacy he's left us with is much greater than he ever could know.After a visit with Paul (POB) and his family just 10 days ago, Ron Baker and I had the honor of dining with Paul Kennedy (PK). PK shared with us that early in their business venture, POB had told him that he wanted to personally change the world. Several years later, POB told PK that he realized he would never be able to accomplish that, and that he would be satisfied with changing things on a smaller scale (I am paraphrasing).It may be ironic, then, but I see POB has having significantly changed the world. Not just our small group "Team VeraSage" but Paul did the amazing: he both practiced what he preached, very successfully and innovatively, but he literally traveled the globe, to the farthest reaches, helping professionals learn how to first improve what they do for clients, and then improve their own lots in doing it. To read the comments on his blog, from all over the world, one realizes he did, in fact, accomplish his goal.If you have been touched by Paul and if he changed the world for you and/or your business, please consider sharing your story here. We'd like to hear about it and, together, we can celebrate the many ways in which Paul did, indeed, Change the World.As Paul wrote in his last blog post: "Life IS beautiful, and life is for living, so never stop carpe-ing!"Goodbye, friend.