Designing a Rich Life Beyond Money and Title | Chris Giomblanco with Dan Pascone | Ep #62

Written By: Dan PasconeJune 5, 2026

Answer Box (TL;DR)

TL;DR: Chris Giomblanco has a CFO resume most executives spend careers chasing — Dell Alienware, Triad Retail Media (45% compounded growth for a decade), Playwire (5x revenue growth). He hit every number. He made every shot. And for a sustained period, every other dimension of his life was quietly falling apart. Now running a digital advisory practice from a 500-hectare farm in rural Zambia, Chris works with a small group of high-performing founders and executives at a time. His core argument: most high earners are performing at the top but not thriving there, and the gap is not a financial problem — it is an architecture problem. This episode covers his eight-dimension diagnostic framework, how to stop living in someday, what a BHAG looks like when applied to life design, and what it actually means to be living your version of a rich life right now.

Key Takeaways

Performing at the top and thriving there are two very different things. You can make every shot, hit every number, and scale a company while your health, relationships, and sense of purpose quietly fall apart. Chris lived that reality for five years at Triad Retail Media and built his entire advisory framework around the gap.
Most high performers cannot answer the simple question: what do you want? Chris uses a 40-question diagnostic across eight life dimensions to help executives identify where to start and build toward a North Star that reflects what they actually want their life to look like.
The someday mindset is the most common obstacle between a high earner and the life they actually want. The shift from someday to intentional design requires someone to force the view around the corner and hold the person accountable to what they say they want.
A BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) is not just a business planning tool. Chris applies it in advisory work to push clients past the internal voice that says "I can't" or "I'm too old" or "it's not the right time."
Meditation was the single most transformative habit Chris added to his life, recommended by a cardiologist after a battery of stress-related tests more than a decade ago. For a CFO who had previously dismissed the practice, it became foundational to how he shows up in every other dimension of life.
A rich life is not a destination. Chris is currently living on a 500-hectare property in rural Zambia, digitally connected via Starlink, working with a handful of clients at a time on work he finds deeply meaningful. He is explicit that he is already living his version of a rich life.

Key Moments

[00:00] Dan opens: high earners are crushing it on paper but privately asking whether the life they built is actually the one they wanted
[01:49] Chris Giomblanco welcomed: CFO at Dell Alienware, Triad Retail Media, and Playwire; now running GeoForce advisory from rural Zambia
[04:40] The Zambia backstory: a two-decade connection to Africa, a catalyst personal loss, and the decision to go
[07:51] Starlink in the bush: 14 hours from the capital, a LinkedIn DM that launched the practice
[10:06] The mentor who mapped the career on graph paper 30 years ago: the warning Chris heard but did not absorb
[11:17] The eight-dimension framework introduced: life architecture across all pillars, not just career and balance sheet
[13:19] Performing at the top versus thriving there: the distinction that defines Chris's entire advisory approach
[15:07] The early signs that a high performer is not thriving: never being able to step six inches from the machine
[17:47] The catalyst between Triad and Playwire: six months off, a PE mentor who said say no three times
[19:55] What outcomes look like from the advisory work: new agencies, comp increases of several hundred thousand dollars per year
[22:35] How to shift from someday to now: forcing clients to look around the corner
[24:08] BHAG applied to life design: if there were no limits, what would it look like?
[29:59] Meditation as the transformative habit: recommended by a cardiologist, now foundational
[32:34] Chris's version of a rich life: 500 hectares in Zambia, Lake Tanganyika, Starlink, a small group of extraordinary clients

Episode Summary

Chris Giomblanco has a resume most CFOs spend their careers working toward: scaling Dell Alienware, building Triad Retail Media from scratch and growing it 45% compounded for a decade, and taking Playwire from roughly $20 million to $150 million in revenue. He hit every number. He made every shot. And for a sustained period, everything outside the career was quietly falling apart.

That experience — and the mentor who warned him about it 30 years earlier on a piece of graph paper — became the foundation for the advisory work he now runs from a 500-hectare farm in rural Zambia, digitally connected via Starlink, working with five to ten high-performing executives and founders at any given time.

The core of Chris's framework is a 40-question diagnostic across eight life dimensions. Most people who come to him cannot clearly answer the question "what do you want?" His job is to force that answer into focus, build a North Star that reflects it, and then architect all the supporting pillars around it.

The episode goes deep on the distinction between performing at the top and thriving there. The Triad years were peak performance with a broken everything-else. The Playwire years — after six months of deliberate downtime and intentional role design — were a fundamentally different experience despite comparable growth.

He also addresses the someday mindset directly. His response is to force clients to look around the corner and hold them to what they say they want. The episode closes with Chris describing a life that most people would not recognize as traditional success but that he calls the clearest version of thriving he has ever experienced.

Transcript

Dan Pascone (00:00): Hey, I'm Dan Pascone, CEO of Tailored Wealth and host of the Making Sense of Your Money podcast, where every conversation is built around one idea. Your money is a tool to design and live your version of a rich life. And a lot of high earners are crushing it on paper. The title, the comp, the trajectory, but privately, everything else is getting squeezed: the health, the relationships, the sense of purpose. And somewhere in the back of their mind is the question. Is this actually the life I wanted, or just the one I built by default? Today I'm joined by Chris Giomblanco, a former CFO who helped scale companies like Dell, Alienware, and Playwire, and who now runs a digital advisory practice called GeoForce from rural Zambia of all places. Chris works with a small group of founders and executives at any given time, helping them architect a life that's dimensionally sound across all eight pillars, not just the career and the balance sheet.

Chris Giomblanco (02:32): I'm a longtime finance guy, grew up in Connecticut. Went to UConn, finance degree. Started my career at United Technologies, Pratt and Whitney, then transitioned to Motorola, Dell. Went over to Dell Alienware when Dell acquired Alienware as the CFO. We integrated that into a brand that's now a multi-billion dollar brand in the world. Then I became founding CFO of Triad Retail Media, grew that, sold it several times, and then did another digital advertising company called Playwire, and we grew that one 5x. What I'm doing today has very little to do with that, however. Now I live in Africa, I'm in Zambia. I'm able to run a digital office, which I call the Eagles Vantage. I'm helping high performing executives and companies, CEOs, take their business and their lives to the next level. What I do is I help people architect their life. So when they land into this life, they're dimensionally sound.

Chris Giomblanco (10:06): I was the guy who was totally focused. When I was twenty-four, twenty-five years old, I knew exactly what I wanted. I knew I wanted to be a CFO. My mentor mapped out to me, literally on a piece of graph paper 30 years ago, what this whole path looked like. And he was spot on by the way. But the most important thing was what I didn't listen to. He warned me, just be careful, Chris, because whatever you wish for, there's a price associated with that. If you want to be in the C-suite and you want to be an executive, there are prices that you're going to have to pay. And that went right over my head as a young kid. So I focused on title, I focused on money, and I got all that. What I didn't do in all of that is I didn't look at all the other dimensions: lifetime, essence, legacy, health, spirituality, connection to a bigger thing. So in my journey, I'm rooted in this thing I call an eight-dimension framework. I created a 40-question diagnostic journal that helps us understand where we should start. What are the most important things in your life that need to be addressed right now? And then we will build a North Star.

Chris Giomblanco (13:29): I was at Triad Retail Media, we grew 45% compounded for 10 years. At one point we were adding a hundred million dollars of top line revenue, an office or two every year, net 100 people to the company. So I was performing. I did a great job passing audits and investing and scaling the business. But my personal life, I was going through divorce, my health was falling apart. Every other element of my life was not doing well for a good five-year period of time. And that's what I mean. So you can perform at a really high level. You can make all the shots, but when you leave the arena, you're broke and battered. As opposed to thriving, and thriving is what I'm doing now.

Chris Giomblanco (22:35): When somebody decides they're gonna work with somebody like me, there's something missing. They realize something's wrong or that things could be better. Sometimes it's triage. I've had clients that were very, very miserable in very high-level executive roles. And the first thing we did was update resumes, prep for interviews, and got them into a new situation. But when that's not the case, there's a person who knows that they've always envisioned something more for themselves. A lot of times it's just dialing the knobs a little bit. I'm a BHAG guy, which is big, hairy, audacious goal. If there were no limits, what would it look like if we blew the ceiling off? I'm 61 years old and I'm living a life, I'm full of energy, I'm jazzed. It really is a mindset and people that I work with tend to have gotten a little bit nicked. There's something that has knocked them back or down a little bit, and they just need to kind of remember who they are.

Chris Giomblanco (30:00): When I was going through the whole Triad Retail ride, I was going through family dissolution and divorce, so it was really tough. I had some issues that ended up just being stress. I went through a battery of tests and ended up flying up to Boston University, saw this world famous cardiologist. And at the end of the day, I was fine. So this famous cardiologist at the end of all this sits me down and he says, Mr. Giomblanco, you need to learn to meditate. That was more than 10 years ago. And that changed my life, actually. I was a guy deadlifting 500 pounds in the gym back then, so I would have been dismissive. But I took it to heart. And that is part of my being. It's woven into the thread of who I am.

Chris Giomblanco (32:48): I might be one of the few people that can say this, but I'm living it. I am living on a beautiful 500-hectare Tuscany beauty farm with hot springs, chalets, camping grounds, mineral-rich, and just pure beauty. And I navigate between here and Lake Tanganyika, which is about five hours to the north. It's one of the most remote places on earth. The fact that I get to be digitally connected and really use my brain and my intellect and my EQ. The fact that I'm able to help shape lives as a co-pilot or a chaperone with some of the most amazing people I've ever met. It's just very rewarding. So I'm living it. This is it.

Resources & Citations

FAQ

What is the eight-dimension framework for life architecture?

The eight-dimension framework is a diagnostic tool developed by Chris Giomblanco that evaluates a person's current state across eight core life dimensions: career, health, relationships, finances, spirituality, legacy, personal growth, and community. It is delivered through a 40-question journal that helps executives identify which dimensions are most in need of attention and build toward a North Star that reflects what a fully lived life looks like. The framework is the starting point for all advisory work Chris does with founders and executives. Consult a qualified professional for guidance on the financial dimensions of your life plan.

What is the difference between performing at the top and thriving there?

Performing at the top means hitting the numbers, scaling the business, and making every shot in the professional arena. Thriving at the top means that all the other dimensions of life — health, relationships, purpose, and connection — are also intact when you walk off the field. Chris describes a five-year period at Triad Retail Media where he was growing the company 45% compounded annually while simultaneously going through divorce, experiencing health decline, and watching every non-career dimension of his life deteriorate. That is performing without thriving. His advisory work exists to help high performers close that gap before a sustained period of damage forces the reckoning.

How do high earners stop living in someday and start designing the life they want now?

The someday mindset — the tendency to defer the life you actually want until after the next milestone — is one of the most common patterns Chris sees in high-performing clients. His approach is to force the view around the corner by asking questions about the next five, ten, and twenty years in concrete terms, building a North Star that puts specific shape to what the person wants, and holding them accountable to that picture. For executives who have already done the financial planning work to make a transition possible, the clarity about what to do next is often the missing piece. Consult a qualified financial planner to assess the financial feasibility of your transition timeline.

What are the early signs that a high performer is not thriving?

The most common early sign, according to Chris, is the feeling that you cannot step even six inches away from the machine without things starting to break. There is no redundancy, no backstop, and no structure that operates independently of your personal presence. You feel it in the pit of your stomach. This is distinct from simple busyness — it reflects an architecture problem: the absence of intentional design in the systems, the org, and the life around the work. If that feeling persists across multiple roles or companies, it is typically a signal that the architecture of the whole life needs attention.

How does meditation help high-performing executives?

Chris was introduced to meditation by a world-renowned cardiologist at Boston University after a battery of tests during a period of extreme professional and personal stress. He had previously dismissed the practice entirely. More than a decade later, he describes it as woven into the foundation of who he is and one of the single most transformative shifts in his adult life. For executives who have never considered meditation, Chris's experience offers a useful reframe: this is not a soft practice. It is a performance tool recommended by the same medical community that stress-tests elite athletes. Consult a physician before making significant changes to your health or wellness routine.

What is a BHAG and how does it apply to career and life design?

BHAG stands for big hairy audacious goal. Chris applies BHAG thinking in his advisory work to push clients past the internal voice that says I am too old or I cannot do that. The application to life design is direct: most high performers constrain their aspirations to what seems reasonable given their current situation. A BHAG forces the question of what is actually possible if the ceiling were removed. At 61, living on a farm in rural Zambia, running a global advisory practice, and working on infrastructure projects across Africa, Chris is his own proof of concept. Consult a qualified financial and life planning professional for guidance on the practical feasibility of your goals.